Black
by kelly54me
Summary: Two years before the First Order is ready to unleash it's secret super weapon on the New Republic, general Hux finds that a network of traitors and spies have infiltrated his ranks. Left with no one to trust, he turns to outside forces for help. When he does, he never considers that his secret agent might become something more. (Rating might change later)
1. A Rat In The Vipers Den

AN:

This story takes place immediately following the events of the comic Star Wars: Age of Resistance - General Hux (2019) #1 (Like immediately after, the last panel of the comic is the opening scene). If you haven't read it, and you don't want it spoiled, go find it now. (it's pretty easy to track down online, especially in slide show format on youtube)

I will be updating new chapters every Monday and Friday

.***.***.***.

Phasma's blaster was a fine machine. General Hux almost admired the reflection of blaster fire off its chrome surface enough to start carrying a side arm of his own. He almost admired the feather light touch it took to pull the trigger. He almost felt satisfied looking down at Admiral Brooks' dead body.

"Captain," he called down the hall.

Phasma was close behind his words, her chrome armor clattering in its own distinct tone.

"Have this mess cleaned up, and send me a list of personnel under his command. I suspect he's allowed more than one rat into the First Order."

"Yes sir."

After unceremoniously dropping the blaster back into Phasma's hand, General Hux left the hanger without so much as a glance at the dead Admiral.

Before ending Brooks' miserable life, the general had done away with the lowly radar technician that had sabotaged his ship. News of what happened to traitors spread fast on Starkiller base, and so Hux's walk back to his quarters was uninterrupted.

The General thought on his last words to Admiral Brooks:

_I am not weak. I am patient. You have the power to destroy people. But I will outlive you all. I will hold more power than any of you. Destroying people is nothing. I will have the power to destroy worlds._

By the time the door to his suite slid open he couldn't help but feel the corners of his lips twist into a small smile.

Yes, the power to destroy worlds.

Hux crossed his living room. A data pad sat on the table to the right, he walked passed it in favor of a small cabinet at the far end of the room. In it was a set of glasses and a handful of bottles, below that was a basin with ice. Not having to consider his options Hux poured two parts of Sullustan gin into a glass before topping it off with a generous scoop of ice and closing the cabinet. In the seconds that took, the data pad lit up with a message.

Phasma had sent her list.

Data pad in one hand and drink in the other, Hux went to his office. The only room in his quarters that looked at all lived in, the office held more than a simple desk and chair. Diagrams upon diagrams coated the walls, designs for Starkiller base. All of them outdated to the point of uselessness, of course. He wasn't about to leave secret plans in the open for anyone to find. Two computers on separate systems occupied the room, one of which was meant for personal use that ended up also being a work computer. Safes filled with data chips lined one wall, more than once that the information stored in them had been the difference between success and failure.

As it was, Hux took a seat at his desk in the dimly lit room. There were no windows. Not in the office or the rest of the suite. After living so long on a star destroyer he found it unnerving when the view wasn't of the black void with the occasional pin prick of starlight in the distance. Flicking on the computers brought lighted displays online and made plenty of light to see by, besides.

Taking a mouthful of gin, Hux scrolled through the org charts that outlined the rank and file below the late Admiral Brooks. Buried deep in the chain of command he found the traitorous technician. Swine, both of them. Though for different reasons.

Turning his attention to the computer screen, the general found a message waiting for him.

He had put out an order for information. A list of names and contacts for bounty hunters.

Chewing on ice he considered his options. The First Order Security Bureau was at his disposal, and they were trained to sniff out rats. But they were also infested with criminals. Unlike his storm troopers, bureau agents were hired on as adults. More often than not they brought their bad habits and barely legal ideas with them.

At least a bounty hunters loyalty could be bought. So long as the Hux remained the highest bidder it shouldn't be a problem.

Typing out a reply he sent his contacts a time and a location.

.***.***.***.***.

"And you figured it was a good idea to send my name to a bunch of imperial wannabes?"

Dak leaned back in the booth, dismissing Lori's complaint with the wave of one hand while the other held a tankard of Ottegan mead.

"You're acting like you can't handle 'em. It'll be fine. Besides, the pay on this looks damn good."

Lori knocked her own glass of mead against the table when she leaned in to talk, "'Course it does you crusty nerf herder, that's how the Imps got people too. You ever meet a rhodian named Borjik?"

"Don't think I have," Dak said just before taking a swig of mead.

"I know you haven't, because he died before I was born. Someone wiser than you told me about him as a warning not to work for the damn Imps."

"Now Lori, these folk ain't imperials, they're-"

"Probably worse. The next words out of your mouth better have been 'probably worse' otherwise I'm going need about a dozen medical droids to figure out what in the hell's gone wrong in your head."

Dak put his freshly emptied tankard on the table. Raising his hand, he caught the eye of the twi'lek working the bar. Taking the most convenient message, she hurried over with a fresh drink. When she put it down, Dak slipped her a handful of credits.

"You want another one Lori? Your cup looks like its running a little dry."

Lori waived the barmaid off, "Dak, I know I'm going to regret asking, but where'd you get those credits?"

"I took a small payment up front. Something about buying silence."

"Dak!"

He put up a hand that told Lori to wait while he took another long drink of mead. Unfortunately for Dak, Lori wasn't about to let her drunk friends hand tell her what to do.

"Put your damn hand down! The tankard too. You took payment for a job using my name?"

The glass landed on the table after far too long, "I just said you'd be there. I got coordinates and a time on a disk back at my place. Are you in or not?"

"Well shit Dak, I don't know. Do you think I'm going to take the money and run from a group of well-armed, well paid, possibly well connected, imperial hold outs? With my luck they probably got a star destroyer and a bunch a TIEs stashed away somewhere."

"So I'm hearing, you're in?"

"Against my better judgment, I suppose I am."

Dak raised his glass yet again, "I'll drink to that."

Lori began to roll her eyes at the man, but caught a flash of movement from across the bar. From her place in the booth she couldn't see trouble but she heard it all the same.

"Where's Dak Fayden!"

She turned back to stare daggers at him from across the table, "looks like it's time to get the hell out of here."

"Nah. It's fine."

She didn't have time to negotiate. With her name tied to the job, she wasn't about to just not show up to this meeting at these mystery coordinates. Rushing to get out of there before trouble found them, Lori stood from her spot and took Dak by the hand.

"We're leaving. Come on."

"I haven't even finished my drink."

More shouts came from the front door. If she had glanced over her shoulder, Lori would have found a bouncer flat on his back.

Trying to keep a low profile against the rising commotion, Lori wrapped a cloth around her hand, "Can't say I'm too sorry about this Dak."

He hadn't even heard her before a well-placed blow to the jaw knocked him out cold.

Shifting the unconscious man around so that she could walk out with him brought its own series of swears and grunts with it, but she managed.

She made her excuses as she waded through the crowded bar, "Pardon me, excuse me, coming through. My buddy had one too many."

Lori made it to the back door just as the crowed at the front of the house started to scatter. She only just made out an angry pantoran making it to the booth they had just fled before the door shut with a hiss.

Adjusting Dak across her shoulder, she half dragged him down the darkened ally.


	2. Hangar Bay Eleven

Typing Daks coordinates into the nav computer showed the location to be some empty chunk of space right at the edge of the unknown regions. The meeting time was one standard day away.

Cursing her luck and pressing some of the dull pain out of her hand that had moved in from punching Dak, Lori fired up the ship and set her course. The computer said the trip would also be one standard day.

Painfully aware that one day left her no real time to plan her next move, Lori took her ship, the _Dolos_, out of atmosphere. Once safely away from the planets gravity well, a simple click of a button was all it took to engage the hyperdrive.

Being a crew of one on a ship designed for two wasn't easy. Even worse was when she wasn't at the helm. The_ Dolos_ wasn't new, it wasn't in good shape either and the autopilot had gone out before Lori even knew to miss it. A series of ropes and weights sat on a shelf to the side of the pilots seat. Tying the wheel in place and engaging the right petals with sack weights was quick work due to years of practice.

Satisfied enough that she wouldn't fly into a star or nebula, Lori left the cockpit for the living quarters. A quick visit to the fresher was in order, and she could probably find something half way respectable in the closet.

Cleaning up turned into her time to think. Lori didn't like the idea of working for an imperial remnant, but she liked the idea making enemies with it even worse. She wondered, who were they to be looking for hired help? We're they low on firepower? Looking for a target that had fled to the New Republic, maybe?

Either way, she went out of her way not to dress like a rebel. She didn't see the value in triggering some crusty old imperials rage.  
After getting cleaned up, a second check of the cockpit was in order.

Reassured that she wasn't going to crash in her sleep, Lori made for her bunk. A deeply needed rest would make the journey that much shorter.  
And it would bring the end of this meeting that much closer.

***.***.***.***

The _Absolution_ was never General Hux's first choice. A resurgent-class star destroyer, it had the same capabilities, same crew capacity, and same layout as the _Finalizer_, but it had three key differences.

First, General Hux didn't need to share command with that impetuous child Kylo Ren. A positive, to be sure, that was only dampened by the fact that the commander of the_ Absolution_ had been a devoted follower of Brendol Hux. It took all the general had not to turn his nose up at the red-armored Captain Cardinal. A storm trooper that didn't know his place, Cardinal had been native to Jakku. When Brendol Hux fled the system he was forced to bring his son along, but he chose to bring the similarly aged trooper to be.

Second, the Absolution served as the initial training site for newly recruited storm troopers. Besides the usual crew and trooper complement, there were also the odd children wandering about and the staff meant to train them. Of course they kept to the lower decks, but it still grated as the general's nerves.

Third, and most damning, were the living quarters. The _Finalizer_ split the commander suite into two separate compartments, for two separate commanders. The _Absolution_ had only the one.

The one that Brendol Hux used to live in.

Cardinal hadn't moved into it as a mark of respect.

Respect that Hux was cursing with his every thought as he walked into the familiar place. What was the office in his suite on Starkiller was his childhood bedroom in this one. The general made a quick mental note not to accidentally open the door out of habit. He did check his father's old liquor cabinet, untouched since he died.

Hux scoffed a bitter thought rolling through his mind, _Cardinal really outdid himself in preserving this shrine to an old bastard that didn't deserve it._

Before he had time to sink even deeper into his foul mood, a knock came from the door. In a few long steps the general was there.

"General Hux," a lieutenant stood in the hall, "we have an incoming transmission, from…" the data pad in her hand lit up with more messages, "a series of transmissions-"

"Have them all land in hangar bay eleven," confident that he already knew who it was, Hux didn't bother waiting for the lieutenant to finish, "and when they do land, have everyone escorted to a meeting room. I'll be along."

Just as the lieutenant turned to leave, Hux added a final order, "and have their ships inspected, place a tracker if there's anything interesting aboard. Do so quietly."

"Yes sir."

Hux watched the lieutenant go. He would take his own time in reaching the meeting room, after he did some final reading on his guests.

***.***.***.***

The _Dolos_ shook and rumbled as it dropped out of light speed. Lori sat at the pilot's seat and couldn't help but let out a low whistle at the view.

A massive ship, triangular in shape and dangerously reminiscent of an Imperial Star Destroyer, sat floating in the void. Twice the size as the more infamous ship, this one was a darker gray, and more flat, missing the iconic tower that would have held the bridge on the older ship.

The hairs along Lori's arms stood on edge. Whoever this imperial remnant was, they were better armed than Lori even knew to fear.

That same question picked at her, _What're they hiring bounty hunters for?_

Describing Lori as a bounty hunter wasn't entirely correct. Less likely to go in gun's blazing, and more willing to talk her way in and out of trouble, she considered herself a detective for hire. Dak had been the one to get her into this mess, so she assumed they were looking for muscle just as big and dumb as he was.

Keying the comm to the most common frequencies, she hailed the ship. For a moment no one responded and Lori worried that this might be some kind of set up. Just as she began to type in a new set of coordinates to the nav computer, another ship rocketed in from hyperspace. Then another, and another.

All told, five ships besides her own sat in the void around the massive destroyer. She sized each one up. Different makes, different states of repair. Each one came from a different directional vector, making it unlikely that any of them were working together.

None of them paid her any special attention. The massive ship with the obvious imperial influence commanded many things, chief among which was fear from those who saw it.

Only a moment after the final ship dropped from light speed, a garbled reply came over Lori's comm.

"All ships proceed to hanger bay eleven. You will be escorted upon arrival."

The trip to the hanger didn't last long. The landing procedures were even shorter.

White clad storm troopers marched through the far halls, occasionally being visible in the hanger through the large bay doors. An operator's deck was on the far end, inside sat people dressed in officer's uniforms. Lori couldn't make out the rank placards, but the imperial influence on them was impossible to miss.

Taking a last minute in her ship, Lori strapped a small blaster to her hip. She didn't plan on using it, and wasn't a good shot besides. But the title of bounty hunter carried a certain set of expectations. Even though she didn't care to impress the Imps, she thought she should at least build a reputation with the other bounty hunters.

When the ramp folded down from the _Dolos_, it landed just short of Lieutenant Noradi. A short woman with a tightly coiled bun, Noradi clutched a data pad with both hands. Besides her were two troopers. Around the hanger bay were the other ships. A few with their crew already in the hanger, and others still locked tight.

Lori was the first to speak, "ya'll needed help with something?"

Trying her best not to be taken aback, the lieutenant gave a curt reply, "You're to follow me. Come along."

Noradi took a step back. Lori took it as an indication to follow and did so with her best attempt to look like she hadn't a care in the world.

The façade started to slip a little bit as Lori noticed that the other bounty hunters were armed to the teeth. One was even in full body armor that had stains with questionable origins. As new people were added to the gaggle, officers would leave back to their duties, but the trooper escorts remained.

After each ship had been emptied, the group of six bounty hunters had a dozen troopers around them. Lieutenant Noradi was left behind to lead the group.

She counted heads and checked her data pad. Satisfied that everything was in order she spoke to the group, "Right, now follow me. And don't touch anything, none of the troopers have their blasters set to stun and they will not hesitate to fire."

Even outnumbered and on a hostile ship, Lori was pretty sure most of the bounty hunters here would cause more damage than they took.

Or, she was sure until they had walked deeper into the ship. After the twenty-eth some odd turn she lost track of how to get back to the hanger. When they finally did come to a stop, it was abrupt.

"You'll be waiting in here." The lieutenant stood by an open door, "take a seat."

One of the other bounty hunters had a brash comment on his lips. Lori noticed before he had the chance to do something he would regret and spoke first.

"Looks cozy. Come on boys."

Hoping that the others would be off balance enough to just follow along, Lori took a few slow steps into the room. After a seconds pause, one of the bounty hunters followed after her. The others took that as a signal and did the same.

Inside was a conference room. A single long table with an inactive display in the center, there were enough seats for each of the bounty hunters to take one along the sides. At one head of the table was a chair nicer than the others, obviously meant to be taken by the higher ranking man at the meeting.

On the opposite head of the table was a seat identical to the ones on the side.

Lori wanted to annoy them just enough not to get the job, but not enough to get her shot in the head for her troubles. Taking a calculated risk she sat at the normal chair at the far end of the table.

A puff of air came from the thin cushion as her weight settled into the seat. She gained some stares from the other bounty hunters, but replied to them with a grin and a nod. This was as much a power play against her would be employers as it was the other bounty hunters.

The grin became genuine after a moment. Lori couldn't help feel like the benefits of this meeting were going to outweigh the hazards. She looked around the table, thinking she might even make some useful contacts.

Her gaze settled on the currently empty chair on the far end. More benefits than hazards, even if she had to stare at the face of some crusty old imperial while she found them.


	3. Crusty Old Imperials

AN: I haven't mentioned it yet, but this is going to be a slow build/slow burn fic, just FYI (I have it outlined and I think it'll be at least 70k words).

.***.***.***.***.

Lieutenant Noradi watched as General Hux walked down the hall and to the meeting room. He came with a pair of troopers walking in his wake.

"Everything is in order, sir." She told him after a final check of the data pad.

"Very well, you're dismissed."

For a second she considered asking what the meaning of these people on a First Order ship was. The general wasn't subject to the same violent outbursts that the entire order had come to expect from Kylo Ren, but she knew that the general had to be dangerous in his own right to have gained direct access to Supreme Leader Snoke.

Without further comment, she left.

Only after she had disappeared around a corner did Hux make for the door.

"Stay here, no one is to enter." he told the two troopers just before leaving them in the hall.

General Hux already knew the names of all six of his potential hires. Two were decoys, common criminals that he would never consider associating with. Two were potential hires for a fake job that would serve as his story for having bounty hunters aboard. The final two were the real contenders.

The first thing the general saw upon entering the room was that the bounty hunters were still armed.

Making a mental note to have a word with Lieutenant Noradi about the mishap, Hux took a careful look at each face around the table.

Down one side sat three people.

Moe Gandor, a small time bounty hunter from the mid rim. Twenty two years old with a rap sheet longer than the _Absolution_, he wasn't a real contender for either of the jobs. Hux's opinion of him sunk lower the longer he looked. A blaster riffle sat strapped to the man's back forcing him to lean forward in his chair. A pool of dust had fallen off his shirt and onto the table below.

Volputra Cane, an assassin of some renown. Nearly forty, Hux already had her name in his files. Until the general had met Phasma he had considered Volputra for a job a few years ago. He knew she had to be responsible for more chaos than her records indicated, but she at least had the sense to keep her actions quite. She was in the running for his second priority job.

Stan. No last name given, and none that Hux could dig up besides. A man that appeared the same age as Hux, he was a similar height but broader in the shoulders. In his research Hux found that Stan had been spotted around the galaxy in places just before and just after they were stricken by calamity, though there was nothing tying him to any of it. He might be able to ferret out the network of traitors in Hux's ranks.

The general looked to the other side of the table.

Ulla Rax. Known to never take a man alive, she was wanted for murder by the New Republic and by a series of independent systems. In her late twenties, rumor had it that she had played a part in the destruction of Luke's jedi temple. Hux put no faith in those rumors, but just their existence caused him to think Ulla was more trouble than she was worth. The bounty on her didn't help either, she was the other decoy.

Kral Kas. A classic bounty hunter, being in his fifties meant that his record was severely inflated, or that he was even better than it suggested. He wore a full set of body armor, though he lacked the helmet or distinct markings that signaled a mandalorian. Hux knew that he was a member of the bounty hunters guild back in civilized space, for that reason alone the general was reluctant to share details of the First Order with him. Kral competed with Volputra for the decoy job.

Hux took his seat at the head of the table. The final name on his list hadn't sat on the side of the table. Instead he was left to stare directly at her on the opposite end.

Lori Gallus. A couple years younger than Hux, she had a very unassuming record with nothing necessarily criminal. Most jobs with her name tied to them began with rumors and ended with her target bound and gagged at a drop off location. Hux was hoping to but a blaster bolt through his traitors, but he was a patient man.

The fact that Lori had elected to sit at the head of the table caught Hux's attention. Whether she were playing games with the other bounty hunters, or with the First Order, he wasn't sure. She was also the only one of the group that had bothered to dress like the occasion mattered. Where the rest of the would-be hires were wearing stained armor, or actively shedding grime on Hux's ship, Lori had a clean collared shirt. Hux also noticed that she wasn't wearing the utterly ridiculous number of belts and jackets that bounty hunters, rebels, and smugglers seemed to think they couldn't leave their ships without.

Besides that she was unassuming enough. Hair a medium brown with a tan that suggested she spent plenty of time on-world, Hux could see her disappearing into any crowd she came across, whether the uniformed masses aboard a star destroyer or the lawless hoards in a backwater bar.

While the general took note of the group, Lori had been watching him. As pleasantly surprised as she was that her view wouldn't be of some ancient imperial officer, Lori didn't let her guard drop.

The man on the far end of the table was tall and thin, his hair a bright red and eyes a faded green. He was pale, with starved features that said he didn't get enough sleep. She didn't know ranks, but he dressed in a dark officers uniform with tall boots to match. He also wore a heavy long coat. Seeing it only reminded Lori that the ship was kept well below anything she would call comfortable.

"Do you know why you've been called here?" the general asked the room at large, though his position left it pointed at Lori.

"Work." The heavily armored Kral spoke first.

Hux shot him a side eyed glance. While the response was true enough, it was matter of fact, and not the worried tone that Hux preferred from his underlings.

Ulla Rax took her chance to interject, "pft, I don't call that knowing. Do you want one of us to break someone or not?"

"The job requires a more delicate touch than most," Hux went on in the silence left after Ulla's question, "I'm searching for a target that's grown quite good at hiding. The reward for finding him will be very generous."

He could already see the two criminals losing interest. Volputra's head turned slightly, it was difficult to make out her features from under the helmet she wore.

"Do you at least have a name for this target?" she asked.

"I'm afraid that's information meant for the one of you that I hire." Hux leaned back in his chair. Meaning to be a signal that this was his job and they would be his workers, the gesture annoyed half the room, while the other took a more cautious approach.

Lori was one of the cautious ones, "so're we working for you, or for your organization?"

Hux would have had to been deaf to miss her distinct wild space accent. For everything he'd read in her file he hadn't expected that, they rarely ventured out of wild space.

"Both. Neither. Whichever has you take the job."

It was Lori's turn to lean back in her chair. She'd been too young to see them first hand, but the stories she heard about the empire didn't fit with this group's personality. These people had the same look about them, for sure, but in the stories the empire had been very direct with their hiring. Even the mythic Vader had hired the legendary Boba Fett.

Against her better judgment, she was interested. Maybe not enough to take whatever mystery job they were offering, but interested nonetheless.

Kral kept his straight face but asked a question, "About your organization. We're not on an imperial ship. You're not wearing an imperial uniform. Who are you?" it was there that Hux saw at least a little of the interest he had wanted in the first place.

"I am General Armitage Hux, of the First Order. The Empire is dead and we don't intend to follow them."

A few things in his words picked at Lori.

First was the title of General. Hux looked like he couldn't be more than five years older than her. Maybe not even two years older. She thought it was possible that the First Order was somehow more nepotistic than the Empire had been. Maybe General Hux was unreasonably capable for his age. He could just be lying outright, or –what Lori thought was most likely- he had been given his rank as a symbolic gesture.

She worried what that symbol could be.

She worried about it almost as much as she worried about what else he had said. They don't intend to follow the Empires footsteps. Did he mean that they weren't hell bent on galactic domination? That they had some different ideology? Or did he just mean that they didn't intend to lose like their predecessors did.

Lori knew better than to work with shady groups that played fast and loose with their word. But she also couldn't resist a good mystery when she saw one.

Moe, the youngest one at the table, tried badly to hide that his eyes had gone wide at Hux's words. The general noticed and savored the poorly hidden panic. Lori did too, and waited for the bounty hunter to say something she could work with.

"F-first Order? I mean. Yea, I heard of you. Are you looking for a guy in the mid-rim?"

"Now why would they be doing that?" Lori asked after Moe, but she watched the general for a reaction.

The young bounty hunter realized his slip. Hux noticed that Lori caught it too.

"No reason. I don't know, that's my stomping grounds."

"Well fancy that," She directed her talking back to the general, "don't suppose that's the case."

"Perhaps. If you're interested in the job you can stay and find out." Hux went back to eyeing the brown haired bounty hunter at the end of the table.

Moe was obviously distraught. Hux could appreciate Lori's picking at him, but he wasn't ready to give her too much credit yet.

"I don't think I am." Moe interrupted the moment yet again. This time he stood up with his words, "this was fun, but I'm just going to get out of here. Sounds like you guys know what you're doing."

Moe took a shaky step to the door, Hux said nothing as the younger man passed him. When the door did slide open, the bounty hunter was greeted by two white clad troopers.

"Take a seat, I wasn't done," was all Hux had to offer.

Taking the troopers and their blasters as his final warning, Moe crept back to his chair. Lori wasn't pleased by the appearance of a guard, nor was she surprised. She was content enough, the others here hadn't challenged anything she said, and she thought she might have even made a good impression. At least she looked like she knew what she was doing when compared to someone like Moe.

"As I was saying," the general went on, now flanked by his troopers, "I have a specific job in mind, and one of you might be fit for it. You're free to refuse, but you will all be staying in this room until I say so."

Ulla was about to open her mouth, took a second look at the troopers, and then thought better of it.

"Wonderful. We'll be doing one on one interviews for the next few hours. You there," Hux gestured to Moe, "you're first."

Moe squirmed in discomfort. Hux wasn't about to ask him to do anything of value, nor was he really interested in hiring the man. Moe had simply been the first to crack under pressure and Hux needed a good chew toy to take some frustrations out on.

The two of them left the room without incident. The two troopers followed closely behind. Lori would put every credit to her name on a bet that said there were more troopers waiting just beyond the door. The other bounty hunters thought much the same.

When the door slid shut Lori was left with questions.

Who were the First Order? What did they want? Why was this impossibly young general being so tight lipped?

And when would she stop being too curious for her own good?


	4. One on One

After further inspection, Moe wasn't just pathetic, he was hiding something. Hux had to admit that Lori had unwittingly ferreted out one resistance sympathizer already. He wasn't about to give her too much credit though, she was just blindly stumbling through a conversation. And he had been the one to pull the secrets out of Moe.

The rest of the interviews went well enough. Volpultra looked like a close second to Kral for the decoy job. The old man was simply better suited to a search and retrieve mission than the assassin was. Ulla had been insufferably violent, and for a moment she began to remind Hux of Kylo Ren. The only two left on his list were Stan and Lori.

Stan hadn't wowed Hux in the group meeting. The general would never admit it either, but the man grated on his nerves. Hux stood tall and commanded the room when he entered, but even he knew that he wasn't the most imposing figure in the First Order. Kylo Ren stood a hair taller and had a warriors build, Hux relied on his coat to make himself look bigger and he knew it. Stan didn't strike Hux as the fighting type, but he was man who looked like a bigger and stronger version of the general.

Hux didn't want to feel threatened, and the fact that he did just made him more annoyed.

Pushing back the emotion he sent a trooper after Lori instead.

While he waited, Hux scrolled through what information he had on the woman. Apparently from some place out in wild space, he couldn't find a home world, so he couldn't pick at that the way he had with Moe. Never in one place for long, just like every other bounty hunter in the galaxy, he couldn't find any ship registration information either. He had crossed referenced the ships in hangar bay eleven with what he had found. By process of elimination he placed the _Dolos _as belonging to Lori.

Lieutenant Noradi's report made it sound like a piece of junk. Well stocked with a series of costumes, but a hazard to fly. Hux considered it a mark against Lori. If she were good enough to find his traitor, than she should have been good enough to earn the pay to maintain a ship.

The general sat his data pad down on a shelf that was attached to the underside of the desk and not visible from the other side. Not but a moment after he did, the door slid open. Lori stepped inside with a nonchalance about her. If she were faking it, the general thought, she was doing a good job of it.

"Evening, General," she greeted him but remained standing.

Hux was painfully aware of the wild space drawl on her words, but took note that she had better manners than the others.

"Good evening, Miss Gallus. Take a seat."

She did so with a quick glance around the room. Being the only other person there, Hux noticed. Lori had been trying to find something to focus the conversation on. Anything as little as a picture on the wall could have been used to open a conversation up, and from there she could have found a way to steer it to the questions she wanted answered.

As it was, she found nothing but a blank room with empty walls, an empty desk, and an officer with a blank expression.

"I don't think I've had the chance to introduce myself, but you already seem to know my name." she started without any of the clues she wanted.

Hux knew as well as anyone that being talked down to by someone who knew more than they should was unnerving. He kept it up.

"You could say I know quite a bit about you, Lori."

"Do you now? Why don't you tell me about myself then?"

Her question played a few roles at the same time. Lori was genuinely interested to see what kind of information the First Order had managed to dig up on her. She thought it was about time her identity could use another good scrubbing, and this would tell her where to start. A second benefit was that she could see what the general thought was most important. From there she might get a clue as to what this job was and decide if she was going to take it before she got in too deep.

Knowing what the other side thought was important might also give her a thread to pull on when it came to learning more about the general himself. It still didn't sit right with Lori that someone who didn't look a day over thirty would have that rank.

Hux saw that her question was bait the moment she asked it, though he wasn't sure what exactly for. Careful not to tip his hand too far he went on.

"A small time bounty hunter. I have to say, it doesn't look like you're one for action."

Lori didn't miss that the tail end of the officers words were meant to be an insult.

"It's true, I prefer a lighter touch. Unless the price is right, of course."

From the slight upward tilt of the general's head, Lori could tell that she was playing into what he was looking for. But she was still more interested in hearing what the job was, rather than actually signing up for it.

"Coming to a satisfactory agreement shouldn't be difficult. If you're suited to the task, that is."

"About that," Lori put an elbow on the desk and leaned onto her hand, "what exactly do you have in mind?"

"That's something for you to learn after you're hired. If you're hired." Hux saw Lori leaning on his desk as a challenge to his personal space.

He wasn't about to let her win it. Instead of cowering back he kept straight in his seat.

Lori noticed, but didn't move in any direction, "This could be a big job. It'd be a shame if I got in over my head."

"That would be such a shame."

Neither of them even pretended that Hux's last words were genuine. Lori didn't like being stone walled, and years of practice told her that now was the time to switch tactics.

"Whatever it is seems very near and dear to you. Why are you calling in extra help?"

"I'm a very busy man."

"Then I'm honored that you're spending you're time talking to little old me."

Hux was weak against a complement, he heard them so rarely.

He knew it too. Lori knew it from the moment the words left her mouth, she saw the slightest amount of tension drop out of the General's shoulders.

Her only problem was that Hux knew he was being manipulated, and that only made him a harder case to crack. Hux did not like to be challenged, but he did like having someone that could challenge him.

Any thought of giving the job to Stan was gone, now his only focus was keeping Lori as on her toes as she was him.

"I do whatever my job requires of me." Was the safest answer Hux could come back with.

"Tell me about that then, what exactly does a man of your rank do around here?"

Another trap he had fallen for, the general only noticed after he had already sprung it. Hux considered his options, he did so much more than any ordinary general. From having the supreme leaders ear, to having authority over star killer base. The very method the First Order used to train its troopers was his domain, ever since he took the job from his father.

The general could see that his hesitation was only giving Lori more time to plan her next move. It was in Hux's nature to be convinced of his own importance, but it was also in his nature to play the long game. He was a patient man and he wasn't going to let some bounty hunter best him.

"Oh? Are you unfamiliar with the role of a general? I knew then New Republic was laissez faire, but I assumed you would know better."

Lori saw another barb tucked away in his comment. This time it wasn't just directed at her, but also at the New Republic. Lori made a mental note, with this much fire power at their disposal, the First Order probably wasn't planning on playing nice with the New Republic. She pressed on.

"I know plenty about what an ordinary general does in his day to day. I also know that it takes a long time to get that rank. You're awful young, you must have done something remarkable to get here."

Hux looked desperately for some hidden insult, but nothing in Lori's voice showed one. He had done remarkable things and the whole of the First Order should be thankful to him. As sorely tempted as he was to continue the conversation he knew that he would slip eventually.

"I'm old enough to know that you're trying to lead this conversation." He went on the offensive and called her out on his suspicions.

"Looks like I was doing an okay job of it," Lori let him have his small victory, "Is that something that'll be useful on the job?"

She had been genuine with what few compliments she had given, but they had been a means to an end. More importantly, it looked like the general was going to be so guarded against giving details about himself that it would be easier to shake details about this job out of him.

"Perhaps. If you're interested, a second meeting could be arranged."

"Hmmm. Depends on if you can make it worth my while."

"Ten thousand credits, currency of your choice. If you show up to a second meeting location, they could be yours."

Lori tried not to flinch. Hux noticed the smallest flicker of her features and didn't try to suppress a sinister smile.

Ten thousand credits would go a long way in ship repairs, but it wouldn't be enough to retire on. It was in just the right place to be an offer she didn't want to refuse and an offer that wouldn't let her disappear. Hux had her on that and both of them knew it.

"Tempting, but me taking the cash isn't the same as me taking the job."

"I'm aware."

Lori decided now was the time to press her luck, "How about this. I'll meet you wherever it is you have in mind and I'll take the credits, but I want one thing from you."

Hux wondered where she was going with this, he thought it was too obvious to be a trap, especially based off of what he had seen from the bounty hunter before, "And what is that?"

"When I do show up, you tell me what exactly you did to become General Hux."

An odd request. It rankled at Hux that she was so caught up on that detail, and seemingly that detail alone. But, he thought, promises were easily made and even more easily broken.

"Deal. You'll have the payment transferred within the hour. Lieutenant Noradi will give you the coordinates and a time."

"Pleasure doing business with you, general." Lori stood from her seat and held out a hand.

Hux wasn't in the habit of shaking hands, more often than not he simply issued orders with the expectation that they would be fulfilled. Deciding that it would be better for his image, he played along.

The hand shake was firm, with neither side going out of their way to overpower the other. The storm trooper that had walked Lori to the meeting was waiting at the door to take her back to the first room.

Hux didn't sit until the door was shut and he was left alone in the empty room. With his mind already made up, he called in Stan for his interview.


	5. Backwater Planets

AN: So I spent way too long looking for a planet to use as the setting for this chapter, and I found a ridiculously detailed map of the Star Wars galaxy. The cite's called swgalaxymap. com

.***.***.***.***.

Ankus was a planet that most people had never heard of. Those that had never gave it a second thought.

Lori double checked the second set of coordinates she had gotten from general Hux. This was definitely the right place. She couldn't help but think that if her body ended up on in some rocky crevice on the planet's surface below, no one would ever find it.

Taking the _Dolos _into orbit around the planet didn't garner any attention. She hadn't pinged a landing pad yet, but the space around the planet was empty. The ground didn't look much better. Seeing a settlement from this altitude was unlikely in the day time half of the planet, but on the nighttime side she could usually see the city lights twinkle through all but the thickest of atmospheres. From her place she could only make out a few pin pricks of light. Experience told her that they couldn't belong to towns much larger than ten thousand people.

Staying anonymous down there would be difficult.

She only had a few hours of standard time to kill before her meeting. In the two days that had passed, she had done some digging on her would be employer, the man and the organization.

Lori couldn't find anything on General Armitage Hux, but she found dozens of reports about one Commandant Brendol Hux of the Imperial academy on Arkanis. Armitage's accent didn't place him as being from the outer rim, but Lori could explain that by assuming that he didn't grow up there.

The last information she found on Brendol dated just before the battle of Jekku. The timeline made her tempted to draw a father-son relation between the two, but she hadn't found any mention of the commandant and his wife having any children. She tucked that information away, it might give her some leverage later.

Stories about the First Order were easier to come by, but far more dubious. Mention of raids by imperial like forces on the border of the unknown regions and the mid rim had been surfacing. One surviving whiteness drew a symbol that was reminiscent of the empires seal. Lori saw it as more similar to the emblem that had been on the left sleeve of the officer's uniform aboard Hux's ship. The sketch was rough, and might have been ill-remembered, she couldn't make a definitive link between the two.

The meeting location did support the theory that this was the same group. Ankus was a back water that was closer to the boarder with the outer rim than it was to any other mid-rim system. The New Republic hadn't spread this far west, and the last multi system government to rule over it had been the Empire. Lori did more digging to find that even the Galactic Republic hadn't bothered to stake a claim over Ankus.

Did the people below even know that the war had ended decades ago?

Lori steered the ship into atmosphere and made for the settlement indicated by the coordinates.

All the digging had only brought her more things to worry about. Despite it, she smiled to herself. Hopefully she had left the general just as off balance as she was. She was interested to know his story, of course, but she had requested information on him as a calculated move. With any luck he would be so focused on hiding facts about himself that he would be more likely to let details about his group slip. This tactic had almost worked aboard the destroyer, and now that the general had had a few days to simmer over it, Lori was sure she could get something useful out of him.

The _Dolos _shook and wobbled when it came in for a landing. All of the other platforms were empty. Most of the structures still had imperial logos on them. Lori stayed in her ship, but even from the cockpit she could see that all the doors in and out of the buildings were massive. Four meters tall and maybe two wide, if she had to guess.

She powered down the engine and left for a change of clothes. Not knowing what she was getting herself into, this time Lori grabbed a bandolier and slung it over her chest and shoulders. Among its many pockets she kept a splicing kit, a pouch of choking dust, a handful of smoke bombs, and a few other tricks she might use to get out of a tight spot. She considered clipping a small blaster to it as well.

It was a low powered thing, small and meant for close quarters. It wouldn't do a thing against someone wearing armor, and it probably wouldn't kill an unarmored opponent unless it hit something important. But a blaster was a blaster, and it had its purpose like anything else. She clipped it to the belt.

Finally, she pulled an oversized, hooded, gray tunic over it all. From looking at her no one would be able to tell she had a thing on under it, nor would they be able to get a good description on her later. The only feature on the tunic was a pocket that was actually a slit that would allow for easy access to the belt below.

Meaning to scout the place first, she stepped out of her ship and onto the planets rocky surface.

.***.***.***.***.

Hux had left the _Absolution_ in the unknown regions. He took a Lambda shuttle for the journey to Ankus, it was only an hour's ride away. Having found out and killed the last saboteur less than a week ago, he wasn't particularly worried about this ship being sabotaged. Although the thought did nag at him.

He left one worry alone by focusing on another.

Why was the bounty hunter so caught up on him?

In the last two days he put time into searching for more details on the woman, and every time he did, he came up with less and less information to go off of. Even sources he had found previously began to blink out of existence. The bounty hunter had been busy not only looking into him, but also with scrubbing any mention of herself from the holonet. Hux noticed, and it only made him all the more adamant that he wouldn't be taken off guard by her.

The lambda shuttle settled into orbit around Ankus. The autopilot engaged and began landing procedures. Hux idly watched it as he brooded over his upcoming meeting.

He found himself wondering over the brown haired bounty hunter, _What is she hiding? More importantly, would she be a New Republic sympathizer?_

She had proven herself good enough at conversation aboard the _Absolution_, and as sure as he was that a well payed bounty hunter could be trusted more than his own security bureau, Hux was still keenly aware that traitors could come from any direction.

A slight rocking of the ship that ended with a bump told Hux that he had touched down on the landing pad. He left his coat folded over the back of his chair. Old Imperial records indicated that Ankus was temperate. Besides, if the files were correct there wasn't a thing he could do to intimidate the locals based of visuals alone. He saw no reason in wearing his coat too often, less it begin to lose its effect on the bounty hunter.

Stepping off his ship, Hux saw the _Dolos _perched on its own landing pad. He didn't like that she had gotten there first, but he could appreciate the punctuality. Hux let his gaze slide over the Imperial seals that still cling to the outside of the larger buildings, he had nearly gotten to the end of the landing bay before one of the locals stepped out from around a corner.

He had felt the creature walking up before he saw them. The ground shook under each of the things steps and when they were finally face to face, Hux was left looking up.

Cragmoloids averaged three meters in height. This one was short, though it still stood a full meter taller than Hux. It had the usual green-gray skin of its species, and above its mouth sat a large trunk flanked by two smaller ones. Along the side of its crowded face there were two sets of short tusks, one on top of the other.

Hux could barely make out its beady red eyes from the jumble of other features. It made some noise that he thought might have been it trying to communicate, but he had no clue what language it spoke.

Keeping his face flat of any emotions, the general looked for a way around the sentient road block. Just before he was about to leave, the ground shook again and a second cragmoloid approached.

"Second traveler." He called out in basic, to Hux's relief

The general stopped and watched his approach. The records had been right, but besides Snokes hologram, Hux had never had to deal with a sentient creature this large.

"There is a docking fee." The massive Cragmoloid said as he came to a stop beside the other man, "10 credits for the day."

Hux let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. It was a paltry sum, to the point that he thought it might be a ruse.

"Of course," he dug through a pocket. Taking clues from the surrounding building he pulled out an imperial coin. They had been largely useless outside the First Order and other rapidly shrinking imperial remnants.

The cragmoloid said something in that jumbled language to his companion. The non-basic speaking one began to walk off.

"Welcome to Ankus, Sir." The other said simply before walking off as well.

Setting off into town, he wondered if the locals knew that the war had ended some twenty five years ago. If they were still using imperial credits, he doubted it.

He picked this settlement in particular because there was only one bar. That way he couldn't be blind sided by a sudden change in plans. Of course, he had planned to be here first, there was a certain amount of control gained by having someone come to you rather than vice versa.

As Hux walked on, he gained questioning looks from the locals. He could count on one hand how many non-cragmoloids he passed, and of them none were human. The sign to the bar was written in the local language but he recognized it from the files.

If Lori had managed to find her way here, even with her head start, Hux might be impressed.

Upon entering, Hux found one cragmoloid cleaning cups behind the counter. Two more sat at the bar and another at a booth in the back. One other humanoid sat at a table. Red skinned, she wasn't the bounty hunter. Her legs dangled from her chair and missed the ground by over half a meter, Hux noted how comical it looked and made a mental note not to make a fool of himself by taking a seat.

Considering his options, Hux almost jumped when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Evening, general."

Managing to keep his composure, Hux turned around to find a hooded figure leaning against the wall.

"Miss Gallus." He returned her greeting.

She pulled her hood back to get a better view of the general. Without his heavy coat she could make out more of his figure. She had thought he was thin before, but now she was left with the impression that he skipped meals as well as sleep.

Hux knew that he was taller than average, and was pleased to find that was nearly a head taller than Lori. As far as Hux could tell, Lori's line of vision fell at his jaw line. He would be using that to his advantage.

He stood to block her view of the rest of the bar. She didn't move in reaction, but Hux could tell she knew that it was an intentional move.

"Don't suppose you got what I asked for." She stared the conversation.

"And what was that exactly?" he knew, but he wasn't going to offer anything she didn't explicitly ask about.

Lori suspected as much, she kept her request broad just to poke at the general, "Just a little bit of back story. I don't work for people I don't know."

"Funny you should say that. I'm not sure I hire people I don't know." Two could play her game.

Unfortunately for Hux, Lori was very good at her game.

"In that case, I see a simple solution. I'll take a turn asking a question that you answer, and then it's your turn to ask me something."

The general considered his options. He knew that she might be able to best him if they just stayed here talking. She had taken an advantage in getting here first, and then in surprising him. He doubted that the locals spoke basic, but he wanted an environment he could control.

"A fair offer. I'll take you up on it, on one condition."

"And what would that be?"

"We talk back on my ship."

A trap.

Lori could only assume that the general had some sort of trap laid, but she didn't see a reason for it. She didn't have a bounty on her head, not one that anyone was alive to know about at least. The First Order didn't seem like a friend of the New Republic, and they were the only ones that might have a problem with her. She hadn't uncovered anything worth her life, yet. If she had offended the general to the point where he wanted her head, he would have had plenty of time to take it while she had been aboard the destroyer.

After a second to consider her options she noticed that the general wasn't even armed. Or if he was, the blaster was hidden so far out of sight there wasn't a chance he would get to his before she got to hers.

"You drive a hard bargain, but I agree to those terms."

Hux took a step back, though there had already been plenty of space between them, "after you."

Lori smiled politely, but kept guarded. She would spend the walk constantly slowing down so that the general was never truly behind her.


	6. A Clash of Words and Tusks

AN: I had a lot of fun with this chapter, though I usually don't do much action. Also, just saying it out loud, the First Order are still the bad guys, even if Hux is convinced otherwise.

.***.***.***.***.

Two humans walked down the settlement streets. One had payed Bola in imperial credits. Word spread quickly among the cragmoloids, and their memories were slow to fade. After the two little figures slipped back into the ship yard Grubk gathered two of his friends and made for the door.

Over twenty years had passed since they saw the invaders off their planet. None of them were keen on seeing their return.

Neither Lori nor Hux noticed the hulking figures lurking in the shadows, each of them being too focused on the others actions.

Lori did notice that Hux had landed in a Lambda shuttle. She hadn't actually seen one in operation, but she'd come across more than enough wreckages in her travels.

"I thought the last of these got scrapped," she mentioned as they approached the ship.

"Only by people who don't know a reliable ship when they see one." Hux spoke as the loading ramp lowered.

Eyeing the ship, Lori decided that the Lambda might have earned its reputation if it was still in this good of condition after thirty years of continuous use. Taking a quick glance at the sorry heap of scrap she called her ship, Lori stepped into the Lambda. Hux followed behind, the door retracting silently behind him.

The inside was just as well maintained as the outside had been. Lori didn't wait on an invitation to sit down, she didn't want her host thinking he was completely in control. After all, she was still lukewarm on taking the job. At this point she was more interested on seeing how much information she could get out of the man, and how much she could hold on to.

Besides, she'd made over ten grand in credits just by showing up. She could burn a day or two playing along.

A flicker of annoyance crossed Hux's features. He didn't have an inexhaustible amount of time to play games with the bounty hunter. It wasn't a question to him whether or not he was going to ask her to do the job, but it was a matter of pride that he didn't tell her any details about it or him until he she was already hired. Besides, it was a security risk to tell her before she was safely stowed away on a star destroyer.

The general sat opposite of the bounty hunter, though she took the lead on the conversation.

"Looks like you got me where you want me. I think that means I get to ask first."

"Is that so?"

Lori gave a small half grin that grated at Hux almost as much as her wild space accent did, "even if it weren't, you just asked your first question. But I'll let you have that one on the house."

Hux wasn't here to play trivial games.

"Get on with it."

"Whatever you say, general. So why Ankus? Bit of a backwater, don't you think?" she started with something unassuming.

"A backwater, perhaps, but far out of the way of prying eyes."

"That important to you?" she went on without a pause

"I think it's my turn to be asking the questions." Hux caught her.

Lori nodded and gave a noncommittal shrug, "pardon me."

Hux knew she had to be going somewhere with the Ankus question. He gave as boring an answer as he could manage. What he didn't know was that Lori was putting together a profile on the First Order.

Note number one: The First Order wasn't ready to be noticed by the New Republic. Perhaps they were still consolidating power.

"My turn. Why are you so interested in my past?"

Direct and pointed. Lori had expected him to be more round about. She eyed the inside of the ship, aware that he had control over the environment.

Note number two: Hux does not shy away from confrontation, but only when he thinks he's in charge.

"Well you caught me there," she leaned back at looked him in the eye, "I don't like secrets unless I'm the one keeping them. And you, sir, seem like you're full of them."

While Hux took his time to decide how he would take that response, Lori followed up with her question.

"Where are you from?"

"Arkanis." The general answered back, his expression guarded.

Lori had at least one of her suspicions confirmed, but she couldn't resist the temptation to poke at her point.

"Huh, you don't sound like an outer rim boy."

"I suppose I don't. And what about yourself? I didn't think Wild Space folk ventured into civilized space."

He would have to do better than that if he was going to make fun of her accent, Lori thought. More often than not, it had worked to her benefit. There were too many fools in the galaxy that assumed the people from beyond the rim were slow minded and simple.

"Lasan."

Hux didn't even try to pretend he knew were that was.

Lori kept talking, she had a point to prove, "Arid little planet. Plenty of nice mountains, they made for a great hike. Had about 500 million people, right until the Empire rolled in and killed half of them."

That put a wrinkle in Hux's plans, "suffice it to say you aren't a big fan then."

"I figure the Empire got in over its head, tried taken more than it could handle. Corrupt as all get out if the stories are true. What about the First Order?"

The general had his own problems with the empire of old, "It's better than its predecessor state. You're right, they were corrupt. And arrogant. And they either forgot, or never even understood, the importance of order."

Never mind that they were weak to the same nonsensical ramblings as Kylo Ren. The Force. The general had seen it first hand, courtesy of Rens incorrigible temper. However, he put far less stock in some metaphysical space magic than he did in the solid and rapidly evolving technology that would see the entire galaxy kneel before the might of the First Order.

"Make no mistake, the First Order will right all of the wrongs that the emperor allowed to flourish, and we will bring order to the absolute chaos that is the New Republic."

Where Hux had only managed to slightly unnerve Lori with his questions, she found that she had hit a sore spot for the man. She didn't necessarily disagree with anything he was saying, the Empire had been a dysfunctional mess. She knew from first hand that the New Republic had been on the verge of collapse since the very day it was founded. Everything right down to the currency they used was unstable to the point where no one touched it.

As for whether or not that made the First Order any better was yet to be seen.

"You talk like it's personal." She pressed on without asking a question.

Hux had distracted himself with his thoughts, he wouldn't have noticed if she did.

"On some level it is. Every day I hear news of the senate bickering over this or that inconsequential matter, while there are systems out there with no government at all. Pockets of rebellion appear from nothing, fight against no one but themselves, and are little better than racketeering groups. They prey on the few people that are even more helpless than themselves, and it's pathetic."

Lori found herself agreeing with what the general said, though she didn't hold on to as much vitriol as he did. More than once she had barely escaped from a system that had been claimed by a group of pirates calling themselves rebels or security forces. As heavy handed as they had been, the Empire at least kept the criminals at bay. Lori wasn't convinced that the First Order wouldn't be as severe as the Empire, but Hux seemed to at least have his heart in the right place.

At this point Lori realized she could probably let Hux talk himself out.

But she still needed to hear what the actual job was.

"You're right," she began, "you're absolutely right, the New Republic has no idea what it's doing."

Hux didn't think he'd ever heard anyone tell him he was right.

Lori continued on, "How can I -"

The ship suddenly lurched to the side, cutting off the rest of Lori's words.

Hux and Lori both tumbled out of their seats, landing hard against the floor when the ship came crashing back down.

"The hell was that?" Lori clutched her head where she had slammed it against the table.

Hux scrambled to get a look out of the cockpit view-port. A second before he was about to reach the pilots seat, the ship lurched to the side again.

Lori braced herself against the table while Hux slid across the cockpit ground and into the wall. The durasteel hull of the ship groaned while a sharp pop came from the landing gear.

"What's out there Hux?!" Lori shouted to the man who might be able to get a glimpse of the outside.

He couldn't, not since he'd crashed into the wall made floor. Just as Lori got her bearings on the severe tilt, the ship crashed back down again. This time Hux landed in a heap, knocking the air out of him as he fell. Avoiding the urge to try to stand in the shaking ship, Lori crawled over the ground. Passing the general, she just got a hand around the bolted down co-pilots seat when the ship went vertical again.

Hux managed to compose himself just in time to brace himself as the ship was lifted. This time the walls and floor shook. A deep rumble came from beyond the hull, and the ship kept turning. A third crash, heavier than either of the last two, shook the craft as it tumbled over completely. Supported not by its landing gear, but by its folded starboard wing, the ship settled on its side.

Lori hung from the support of one chair, her feet swinging to get a place on the side of the pilots seat. Hux stood up, his feet on the wall.

The earth beneath the ship shook, and through the window they came face to face with a raging cragmoloid. He shouted something that came out as a trumpet from his three trunks, and the earth shook with the stampeding of his allies.

Hux was the first to move, fight or flight kicking as hard as it ever did in times of crisis.

He didn't have to climb to reach the control panel, hitting a series of buttons he engaged the engine. Sirens blared in warning that the wings hadn't been let down for takeoff.

Lori only took a second to figure out what was going on, and desperately started searching for the manual override on the co-pilots side. She had to swing up to hit it with one of her feet.

She hit the button just in time for a new alarm to start shrieking. One of the cragmoloids outside began bashing down on the topmost wing. A few more good hits and he might break it free from its hinges.

A second before it came to that, Hux crouched to pull a lever.

The underside engines ignited and sent up a flurry of dust with a burst of super-heated air. The hammering stopped for a second and an ear splitting scream came from beyond the walls. Before either human inside had time to flinch in response, the Lambda shot across the ground. Dirt and soil and stone flew up in its wake. Among the debris was the heat shielding that the ship would need to re-enter even the thinnest of atmospheres.

"Vector forward!" Hux shouted from inside the violently shaking ship.

Using the pilots seat as a foot hold was a losing battle. Lori kicked out at a toggle. She hit it just before tumbling to the ground and then getting pushed back to the landing bay wall by the sudden forward acceleration.

She only just righted herself when Hux clicked the engine disengage. The ship skidded to a halt just a meter short of the tall wall that marked the far edge of the landing bay.

Lori was quick to make it back to the cockpit, despite the quickly forming bruise on her hip. No sooner did she get there did the ship start slowly lurching to the side.

Hux had begun lowering the wings in preparation for takeoff. The force of their dropping pushed the ship back upright.

"Come on, come on. Can't you go any faster!" Hux only just kept from yelling at the machine.

Lori was more focused on the stampede noises from outside, "where's the weapons system? I know the lambda has one."

Hux leaned more heavily on the dismount button, but frantically looked around.

"Center console panel, co-pilots side," he slapped at a display, "the targeting screen is down."

"I'll make do!"

Once again, Lori climbed up between seats. This time she knew to brace for when the ship made its final quick rotation back upright. With one arm hooked around the base of the co-pilots seat she grabbed a joy stick and started blindly firing the ships rear gun.

Between the thundering blaster bolts Lori could just make out a distant thud. Despite it, the sound of a charge was still coming.

She didn't have the time to worry or celebrate before the Lambda reached the apex of its tilt and crashed to the correct position. Now left lying on the floor, she was clinging to the control panel, trying to fire and to stand at the same time.

Hux made it up first. Without hesitation he slapped the launch button down, and the lambda shook as it began to rise from the ground.

For a second they thought they were free, then the ship groaned and keeled to the side. Lori spun around and ran for the bay door. She reached into the hidden bandoleer around her chest and slapped the boarding ramp controls.

When it didn't budge she shouted at Hux, "Unlock the bay doors!"

"Are you mad!?"

"Just do it!"

The ship rocked. A new siren went off and emergency lights began to strobe as the loading bay door lowered.

Lori was met with the angry red eyes of a cragmoloid staring back at her. Before the man had a chance to fully register the opening door, Lori threw a handful of choking dust straight into his trunks and open mouth.

The reaction was immediate. The lambda lurched forward while the cragmoloid fell back and landed hard against the ground. Lori was left to look down at the choking man. Relishing in the victory and knowing that there wasn't a thing he could do to catch her now, she lazily hit the close command for the door.

She took her time staggering back to the cock pit. By the time she slumped into the co-pilots seat, they had entered low orbit.

"I thought you had jumped," Hux said as she entered the room.

"Glad you're safe too. Thanks." She replied to the comment she would have like to hear instead.

Hux knew she was sarcastic but it still felt good to hear.

Lori looked to the status read outs around the co-pilots seat. "Thermal shielding's been stripped" she looked at the fast approaching starts through the view port, "guess it's too late to go back for my ship."

"You're welcome to brave the raging beasts, but I'll have no part in it."

"No, I think I'm good." She let out a few heavy breaths against the ache that was blooming across her body.

Tired as they both were, neither one had forgotten that they were still trying to figure the other one out.

Hux half-heartedly made an attempt at prying for information, "quite the display back there. You're quick thinking might have save our lives."

It accidentally came out as a genuine compliment.

"Likewise. I'd never have thought of engaging the engines while capsized. That was real sharp."

For once, Hux was okay with not getting the last word. Taking his own calming breaths, he set the nav computer for the homing beacon aboard the _Absolution_. As the hyperdive engaged and the stars began to stretch into their iconic streaks of light, he leaned back in the pilot's seat. A glance to the side found Lori slumped back and lamely clutching at her side.

The general felt much the same.


	7. Altered Med-Kits

AN:

Couple things,  
First, thanks for reading this far into this trash heap. I realize it's been 10k+ words of not much happening. Second, I'm changing the update schedule. It was Monday & Friday, but now I'll be doing Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. I just like the pacing that comes with 3 chapters a week, and I figured no one would complain about getting more content per week.

.***.***.***.***.

One hours travel by hyperspace brought the damaged Lambda shuttle within sight of the _Absolution_. In that time bruises had had their time to form, and Lori and Hux both had time to go stiff from sitting in their seats.

"Hey general," Lori broke the near silence that was left in the wake of the lambdas rumbling engines.

"What?"

"It's pretty obvious I'm not going anywhere," Lori hated to admit it, "what the hell's this job supposed to be?"

It wasn't the complete victory that he had wanted, but Hux knew Lori wasn't wrong in thinking there was no way not to agree to working for him now. In his second of hesitation Lori went on.

"I already almost died once. That's about as committed as I can get."

It wasn't the exact terms she had wanted, but Lori knew that Hux wasn't going to be able to keep the truth she wanted hidden away for long. Besides, she was genuinely interested in what makes an ideologue like him tick.

"Very well," he sat upright in the pilot's seat, suppressing a groan from what he thought might be a bruised rib, "there's been trouble with rebel sympathizers. Just last week one made an attempt on my life. Rest assured, he has been dealt with, but I suspect there are more of them hidden in my ranks."

A few sarcastic comments sprang to Loris tongue, but she decided they would do more harm than good.

"Let me guess, you want me to find them and report back to you?"

"If you would be so kind," Hux made himself busy by activating the comm and hailing the _Absolution_, rather than looking at Lori while she thought about it.

She was interested, and the general seemed like an okay person. A bit extreme in thought, but nothing that made her suspect he would kill her when the job was over. Besides, she had no love for rebels, or freedom fighters, or any of the other things that criminals with a conscious decided to call themselves.

"What about the pay?" she did still have a living to make, and a ship to replace.

"Variable, and dependent on how many spies you catch."

She considered it. It wasn't too farfetched that he wouldn't want the hired help getting complacent with a steady pay check.

The lambda was going in for a landing at hanger bay four. After touchdown but before the doors opened, Lori turned her head to look at Hux.

"Fair enough. Looks like you got yourself a double agent, general."

Hux didn't have the energy in him to celebrate. As it were, he barely wanted to move so that he could face the troopers that had begun to board the lambda. When the white armor clad troopers made it to the cockpit, Lori decided it was best if she stay silent. As wildly unlikely as it was that the first people she would meet besides the general would be the traitors she was looking for, there was no reason to start letting the personnel aboard know anything about her.

Experience told her the best way to disappear into a crowed was to keep people from ever realizing you were there in the first place.

"General Hux," the first trooper to enter snapped to attention, "are you in need of assistance?"

He waved the trooper off.

"No. See to the ship. Repair it, or scrap it for parts. Consult the hangar overseer for which."

As stiff and wounded as he was, the general didn't show any of it when he stood from his seat. Lori followed his lead and did the same. When the two of them had gotten to the top of the boarding ramp they were greeted by two other troopers. The hanger bay below was a swarm of black clad naval personnel and technicians wearing vests that overflowed with tools and wires.

The two of them were half way out of the hanger before a man wearing ranks that Lori didn't recognize began to walk towards them. He almost started to say something before catching sight of the poisonous glare that Hux had refined over the years.

Thinking better, the officer quickly walked off in the opposite direction.

Lori noticed the exchange.

"That happen often?" she muttered to the general.

"Not now."

The general had only been aboard the _Absolution_ for a week, but everyone from the most junior officers, to the veteran sergeants, to the lowly radar technicians, had learned that he was the most creatively unpleasant senior officer that they had ever come across.

When compared to their greatly admired Captain Cardinal, the general was even more deeply loathed.

Lori didn't know the layout of the ship, but she knew enough to recognize that they weren't going towards a medical bay. Hux stubbornly walked on, the limp he was hiding slowly starting to show itself. The hall had been clear for their last few turns, Lori took the opportunity to speak.

"Don't you think we ought to visit a medical droid?"

"No." Hux had never had a habit of seeing a doctor. He had a variety of reasons, most of which he had grown out of, but he still stubbornly refused to admit weakness of any kind.

Regular visits to the med bay would only encourage rumors. Never mind that a visit with an unknown woman in tow would spark a wildfire of gossip alone. He had even picked hanger bay four because it would for the least busily traveled rout between his quarters and the bay.

As it were, the general's commandeered quarters were only one turn away from where they stood now.

Lori tried to get a handle for the feel of the ship, but between the distracting ache in her back and hips and the overall lack of people to watch, she found herself more disorientated with each step.

Eventually Hux came to stop at the only door that stood in the hall they had just turned down. It quickly whooshed open and the two of them stepped inside. Not a moment after it shut behind them, Hux was already digging through the cabinets in the little kitchenette that stood to the right of the door.

Lori took a seat at the bar that separated the kitchen from the rest of the living quarters.

A pleasant enough place, despite being made up of the same harsh gray steel and glass as the rest of the ship. Two couches sat on the far end of the room, and beyond them was a large window to the dark void of space. A chair and side table were against the wall to the left of the door. A few feet besides that was one door, and on the far side of the living room was a second. On the same wall that had the kitchenette were another set of two doors.

The suite was larger than anything Lori had ever called home, though she had to admit that she had never really had a home at all.

Looking to the general she could see him hide a cringe as he crouched to dig through the lower cabinets. She was just about to ask him what he was doing when he returned to standing with a little med kit in his hands.

"Good to know you keep a stash handy." She told him as he placed it on the counter.

Flicking the little box open he dug past the bacta patches and bandages. Neither of them were bleeding, so those would do no good. Experience told Hux that bruises from being thrown around would only heal with time. On the bottom was a little jar of pills for the pain. Hux opened the bottle and poured a couple into his hand.

He didn't see the point in having his new operative injured when she started the job. When he was done he slid the jar over to Lori, who was more than willing to accept it. After pouring one pill into her hand, she noticed that it had been cut in half.

Pouring out a second piece to make one whole pill, Lori idly wondered why Hux would have intentionally lowered the amount of medicine in one dose, only to take two now.

When she was done she handed the jar back to Hux, who quickly tucked it back into the pack before putting the whole thing back in the cabinet from whence it came.

Already feeling a little better, Lori leaned against the bar.

"So, are you going tell me what's going on around here, or am I going to have to start talking to someone besides you on this ship?"

Hux pulled a glass from a cabinet and filled it with water. He still ached, and for a moment he wished he had taken two doses.

"Before I allow you to wander about the First Order without supervision, you're going have to learn how to blend in."

It didn't go amiss on Lori that he hadn't offered her a drink. She wasn't too surprised, given what she had seen of the General up that point. Now that she wasn't trying to appear just competent enough to be talked to but not quite enough to get stuck with the job, Lori switched gears.

She wasn't going to let the general know every little thing she knew how to do, but she was going to show off just a little bit.

"Are you talking about the way I sound?" she emphasized the wild space accent just to switch to a different one on the next sentence, "because I could be from any region of the know galaxy. Perhaps my family has spent generations among Coruscanti high society."

She noticed the slightest tick of annoyance flash across Hux's face when her voice suddenly mirrored his own posh core-world accent.

"Or maybe" she switched to clear but overwhelmingly common mid-rim pronunciations, "I grew up on Lantillies and I think that the lack of protection over galactic shipping lanes is a crime."

She swapped again, her words dropping in pitch and going less refined than her mid-rim voice, "Then again, being an outer-rim native has certain… implications."

Hux took a drink. He had been talking about the way she sounded, and he knew she was showing off. He wasn't about to admit it, but each voice she put on had been convincing.

He chose something else to pick at.

"As well and good as that all is, I was meaning that you'll need to learn the all the protocol that comes with being a First Order officer. The traitors are deeply embedded, and they'll see any poorly hidden plant from miles away."

Lori hadn't really signed up for a crash course in military protocol, but she thought that kind of information might be invaluable on later jobs, "Lucky for you, I can learn quick."

"I'm scheduled to return to my flagship in one week. At that time we will be doing a personnel transfer as well. You have until then to become invisible in the First Orders ranks."

"A whole week? I'm getting spoiled with time to prepare."

For his own amusement, Hux decided then and there that he would make teaching Lori far more difficult than need be.

"We'll see about that. In the meantime, take some time to rest. There's an empty suite two floors directly below this one," he pulled out a code cylinder and slid it across the desk towards Lori, "do yourself a favor and get there unseen. No one else knows you're supposed to be here besides me, and my troopers are trained to shoot first and ask later."

Lori shook the last bit of stiffness from her legs as she stood, cylinder in hand, "of course, can't let the common folk know you looked for help on the outside."

Hux ignored the bait, "Come back here in twelve hours. There will be a uniform waiting for you down stairs."

She lazily walked to the door.

"One more thing, Miss Gallus," Hux spoke from the kitchen.

Lori stopped at the door, "what would that be, general Hux?"

"Outer-rim. I suspect you'll have an easier time with your assignment using that voice."

She gave a halfcocked smile and answered back without her native drawl, "yes sir."


	8. Lunch

Lori hadn't encountered a single soul on her trip through the ship and to the room below. The door slid open after it read the key cylinder. She couldn't help but wonder if it was keyed to any other door on the ship.

Stepping into the room she found that the living room and kitchen area was near identical to Hux's suite. The key difference being one couch, and only one pair of doors on the wall opposite of the kitchen. The large window was also missing.

She didn't miss it, there was something unnerving about knowing she was only a thin layer of transparisteel away from the void of space.

After taking note of the living room, she went to the furthest door. Beyond it was a plain bedroom. A twin sized mattress sat on a platform that was bolted firm to the wall. Beside it was a small table, and on top of that sat an alarm clock. A wardrobe was also built into the wall. Sliding the door open she found a grey uniform that matched every other one she had seen on the ship. It had ranks on it, but what they meant were a mystery to her now.

A second door in the bedroom lead to a fresher. It was a thin room that also had a second door that lead to the other room. Also a bedroom, identical to the first. Lori left it only to step back into the living room.

Twelve hours was a long time with nothing to do. Lori searched the kitchen cabinets. Empty glasses, plates, and a few sets of utensils. She didn't find a second med kit, or anything besides what she suspected was standard issue. The refrigerator was empty.

Her stomach growled. She filled a glass with water, like that would do something to help.

Going back to the bedroom, she already regretted not having a data pad on her. It was one thing to try and pry information out of someone when she had her own collection of notes and tips, but another thing completely to go in blind and expect to come out successful.

Lori took her time in the shower. She couldn't feel any soreness due to the meds, but she knew they'd wear off by tomorrow. The hot water would hope fully make the next day a little more bearable.

Using the undergarments from the uniform as sleeping cloths, Lori settled onto the bed.

The room was dark besides the alarm clocks glowing screen. For a while she just listened to the low rumble of the _Absolution's_ engines. They didn't sputter and pop randomly like the _Dolus_. Sleep would have come quickly if she wasn't awake with questions.

Spies in the First Order didn't shock her. As far as Lori was concerned, so long as there were two people left in the entire galaxy, someone would be plotting against somebody else. She didn't have to look too far to notice that the general wasn't well liked by his men.

She rolled to her side.

Why?

Guarded. More than a little angry at the galaxy. Many things that would have kept his underlings from being his friends, but nothing that should outright scare away hardened military personnel.

Nothing that could scare Lori off, at any rate.

She pulled the blankets up a little higher. The ship was cold.

She imagined that Hux's deeds were probably nothing worse than her own.

.***.***.***.***.

Hux didn't move for a long while after the door slid shut behind the bounty hunter.

She was cleaver enough, he'd give her that. At any rate she should be able to do something as simple as walk down a hall way without his supervision. When he finally did move, it was to retrieve his data pad.

Just because he had spent his day gallivanting around the surface of a hostile planet, didn't mean that he could ignore his duties. No less than two hundred messages had been left in his inbox. Most concerned materials shipments for Starkiller base.

Only recently had the name been released to the First Order at large, though the projects true nature was still known only to a select few. In fact, most of the personnel stationed on the base still thought that it was to be used as a mobile command planet.

They were low on doonium. The durasteel they had purchased failed their quality assurance tests. A score of workers were lost in a kyber crystal cave collapse. The general flicked through the messages and replied where he thought necessary.

_Move to our third string supplier for more ore._

_Show the durasteel source the penalty for failure._

_Leave the workers, we have reserves._

Two hours had ticked by before the general was done with mundane paper work. He spent the next two hours issuing his own original messages. Another hour ticked by as he checked the holonet for news.

The senate was to vote on some new piece of busybody legislation. The galactic trade regulators re-valued the New Republic credit to an all-time low. The Hutts had begun a new incursion into the mid-rim. Senator Organa was catching a new wave of scandal, she had punched someone after they implied that she was like her father.

General Hux saw where Kylo Ren got his personality from.

Hux glanced at the time. Seven hours until he needed to entertain his new hire. He walked back to the kitchen, this time only taking a second to pull the med kit from its place. He had built up a tolerance to the pain medication before. It had been a while and he thought he had gone back normal, but the medications quickly fading effects told him otherwise.

Shaking another full dose out of the bottle, the sight of the pills being cut in half was almost as bitter as the medication itself.

Swallowing the medication and pushing the reminder of the past out of sight, Hux went back to work. He didn't even entertain the idea of a meal, it would take too long.

The door closest to the kitchen was his father's personal office. He had never been allowed in as a child, so it escaped a few of the bad memories that clung to the rest of the rooms. Walking in, he activated the computer.

He didn't need to prepare material to teach to his new hire because he had forgotten it. He couldn't, he drafted half of it. Rather, he needed to maintain the appearance of a man with all the answers. Another hour ticked by as he put file upon file together about First Order military tradition, ranks, tasks, ship classifications, and anything else a junior officer should have dedicated to memory.

The possibility that the girl might take the information and run wasn't lost on the general. He wasn't about to foolishly trust a relative stranger with the intimate ins and outs of his organization. She would spend a week under his direct supervision, and then she wouldn't spend a moment off Starkiller or the _Finalizer_, whichever he deemed more important. Then, when all was said and done, he would either kill her or he would have a loyal new officer at his disposal.

Six hours away from his meeting. Hux spent one more reading the _Absolution's_ latest status report, and then the _Finalizer's_.

For the _Absolution_, Hux could at least expect Captain Cardinal to do a competent job. Personal ire aside, Cardinal was a reliable cog in the First Order's machine. Nothing out of the ordinary had arisen since Hux's departure. As he read through the feed, he did see that the lambda had been slated for destruction. A shame, he thought, the lambda had been an elegant design.

He didn't dwell on it for long. The First Order was in the process of upgrading to the new Upsilon-class shuttle.

The _Finalizer's_ report was less mundane. It seems that Kylo Ren had destroyed another control panel in one of his fits. Hux knew that Supreme Leader Snoke kept the rabid cur around because of some moronic faith in the Force. Hux saw such beliefs as the ultimate downfall of the Empire and didn't think for a second that they had any place in the halls of the First Order.

Hux could at least take satisfaction in the fact that there hadn't been any casualties. Untrained workers were easy to replace, but the talent he placed on his ship was harder to come by.

Five hours until Lori would be back. An entire shift had come and gone, and Hux had done all the catching up he could hope to. Leaving the office, he went back to the living room. Sleeping in his childhood bedroom was unthinkable, and the thought of staying in his father's room made him uncomfortable in its own special way.

Just like every other night he had recently spent aboard the _Absolution_, he settled on the couch. Acutely away of the aching back he would have the next day, he set an alarm for four hours. That way he would have plenty of time to clean the suite and himself to the standard that a First Order general should keep.

The lights in the living room clicked off, and Hux was left with nothing but distant pin points of light from the calming void of space. He settled into a fitful slumber that would leave him waking up just as tired as he went to sleep.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori thought the uniform was a little big.

She tugged at the too long sleeve after knocking at the general's door, and she adjusted the cap that sat on her head. No one had seen her on her way back up. She was both thankful and annoyed by the lack of people to talk to. Thankful that she didn't need to invent a cover story on the spot about what was undoubtedly an improperly worn uniform, and annoyed that she only had the general's words to get a feel for the rest of the First Order.

Before anyone else came down the hall, the door slid open and Lori stepped into the suite.

She found Hux exactly as she had on Ankus. Uniform stiffly pressed into a wrinkleless expanse, hair parted to the right and set in place, and expression carefully guarded. Lori was beginning to think that he was the type to take extra care in his appearance.

"Morning general."

"I thought you were using an outer-rim accent."

It was too early to be cleaver, "I will be for everyone else, but you already know better."

Hux certainly liked to think that he did, he didn't contradict Lori with a sarcastic barb. Instead he went back to the kitchen bar and picked up a data pad.

"This contains all the basic information you will need to pass for an officer aboard one of my ships."

She took the pad. While she scrolled through the massive list of files, the general continued talking.

"You'll not only have to know the information, but I expect you to behave just as any other officer would. That means you will walk like you've been drilling for years, you will keep your shoulders straight, your boots will be polished, and most importantly you'll learn how to wear a uniform properly."

Lori looked down at herself. There were only so many moving parts on the plain gray tunic with gray pants and a gray belt. She wasn't sure what she had messed up, but she knew she was about to hear it.

The general gave her a quick glance over and seemed to see every tiny imperfection all at once, "Your hair is riddled with flyaways and your bun is loose. You're cap was on crooked, and your belt isn't aligned with the collar of your shirt, never mind that you're wearing it too low. The second code cylinder on your right is turned too far. When you look down the connector pin should be at the top."

Lori wasn't aware that there were even that many things that could be wrong with a uniform. Somehow Hux found more details to pick at.

"The rank insignia on your sleeve is turned, that means your arm brushes your breeches when you walk. It says you're a captain, by the way. There's a scuff on the inside of the heel of your boots. They've rubbed together while you walked here, you need to fix your stance and change your gait."

She took note of everything the general said, but at this point Lori had decided that it might just be better to let the general talk himself out.

"…when you're standing, keep your shoulders up, back, and then down. Don't put your hands in your pockets. And I don't think I have to say this out loud, but keep you chin up, and never look away when a superior is talking to you. It bespeaks weakness, and it's rude besides."

Now Lori assumed that Hux was just getting into whatever non-military specific rules of etiquette he had deemed correct. She wasn't going to waste time on that.

"Right. I hate to be the needy type, general, but it's been a day or so since I last ate. Fix me up so I can pass for close enough to get in and out of a mess hall, then I'll spend all day reading over your data pad here."

Hux wasn't about to let her wonder the ship looking like that. He wasn't even sure that she would be able to convince an army lieutenant, or a navy ensign with as little as she knew. He thought she probably couldn't even tell the two apart if they stood side by side.

Rather than taking her up on that offer, Hux simply gestured to the refrigerator.

"You can have anything you'd like out of there."

Not needing to be told twice, Lori set the data pad down on the counter before walking around Hux and to the refrigerator.

It wasn't well stocked. In fact, the only things in it were boxes of what she assumed to be leftovers. After opening one to see what was inside, she changed her mind. They couldn't be leftovers, because it looked like they had never been touched in the first place.

Only more convinced that she had been right in thinking that the general took more care in his appearance than his actual health, she took a box and put it in the reheater.

"What about you? Care to join me?"

She wasn't going to tell him to sit down and eat something, she rightly assumed he would refuse if that were the case. But she wasn't about encourage him to skip any more meals.

"I'd feel weird chowing down while you sit there and just watched," Lori added on.

Hux wasn't hungry, but after thinking about it, he realized it had been nearly two days since a proper meal. He'd been relying on the occasional dietary vitamins and plenty of hot caf to keep himself going.

"I suppose I might," he tried to be dismissive just before fishing around the refrigerator for something to eat.

By the time he picked something Lori had finished heating her meal and had sat down at the bar. She picked the first file on the data pad and began reading the titles of the smaller files within it.

First Order organizational charts. Ship classification and identification manuals. On world protocol. Off world protocol. Rank by pay grades. Duties by rank. Uniform standards.

There had to be thousands of bytes of information on this thing.

Before she even knew where to start, the general had finished heating his lunch and sat at the far end of the bar.

"I take it there'll be a quiz at the end of class." Lori set the pad down and took a bite of her food.

"If you can convince me that you belong here, then the rest of the crew will be none the wiser."

"About that," she had already almost finished of one of the sides, "how much of the crew is a suspect? Are we talking one or two, or is it a whole network?"

He was only a bite in, "I don't know. I hired you so I wouldn't have to concern my time with it."

"I'm only trying to get a handle on the situation. It's one thing to find a rat that's working alone, it's another thing if he's got friends that'll miss him."

Hux noticed a chance to pry at Lori's past, "Oh? Do you have friends that will miss you?"

Direct. Just like he had been back on the Lambda.

"Friends would be a strong word. Maybe I should say your rat might have associates," she tried to deflect and redirect his question.

Hux didn't let her.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I didn't realize we were still going back and forth with that." She said after swallowing a mouthful.

Hux thought he heard a grin to her words, but he wasn't about to give her an out by continuing on. She realized that and gave him one of the more frustrating answers she could come up with.

"I suppose I could call you an associate. You'd notice if I went missing, at any rate. Might even come looking after me, if only for some answers."

The general sat down his fork. Lori took another spoon full of her meal.

"I do intend to get answers from you, Miss Gallus."

Lori did an intentionally poor job of hiding a little smile. She had noticed the general call her more formally a few times, usually when he was trying to be serious or especially ominous.

"Likewise, General Hux."

A little flicker in his eyes told her she was pushing his buttons in just the right way as to be slightly more interesting than annoying.

The two of them ate in silence for a while. Neither wanting to take the next move, and both of them trying to figure out how to goad the other on.

After the left over tins were cleared and thrown away, Lori picked up the data pad and wandered to the center of the room. She couldn't bare the presence of the large window, it was far too distracting. Meaning to find somewhere more closed in to study, she stepped towards one of the far doors.

"Those rooms are off limits," Hux's reactions was far too quick for him to play it off.

Lori sensed a sore spot for the general. And a secret.

"Why's that? They're just bedrooms in my suite" she could still feign ignorance.

"It's nothing that concerns you."

"Doesn't change the fact that I'd like somewhere more closed off to study."

"If the couch offends you that much, you can move into the parlor room, or the study." Hux gestured at the two doors along the same wall as the kitchen.

Lori didn't miss that he hadn't listed a bedroom. What was he hiding in there? His reaction made her think it was something beyond simply being his bedroom. Noting it for later, Lori opted for the parlor. She knew that the office would be tilting her hand too far into invading the general's personal space.

No sooner did she step out of the room did Hux realize that he had revealed too much in his reaction. He grumbled to himself, now it was a matter of pride that he learned more about the brown haired bounty hunter than she learn about him.


	9. Twelve Hours

AN: Just let it be known, I had fun writing Wednesdays chapter, I had a bunch of fun writing today's, and I'm having a blast writing Mondays. Also let it be known that I love writing a good bit of angst.

.***.***.***.***.

After reading the data pad for eight hours straight, Lori was starting to go cross eyed. After ten hours, she wondered if it was too late to hijack an escape pod. After twelve hours she had given up and laid on the floor just because the ceiling didn't have any writing on it.

Following her normally terrible luck it was only after she had taken a chance to rest that the door slid open to reveal the general standing just beyond the frame.

"What do you think you're doing?" he didn't try to hide the little bit of disdain that Lori decided might be a permanent feature of his.

"Just resting my eyes." She said without moving.

"Well get up. This is behavior unbecoming for an officer."

Having taken her moment to have a pity party, Lori took her time to stand up, "last time I checked I wasn't actually an officer."

"If you're going to fool the rest of the First Order the act needs to be impeccable."

She knew that. Somewhere around the three hour mark, she had taken the time to fix her uniform and then buff out the scuffs on her shoes. By her standards her hair was fine, but she was sure the next words out of the generals mouth would be about how she had ruined her bun on the floor.

"Besides, you're out of regulation. Again. There's a stand of hair loose and its' hanging below the top of your collar."

She tried topping him with uselessly specific information, just to prove she had been busy at work, "and according to uniform regulation 27-B, bullet point 3 dot a, all female personnel are to keep their hair tucked into one of three regulation approved buns, outlined in section 32-D, or else keep their hair trimmed so that it remains at least one centimeter above the top of their beta-class uniform. I get that right?"

The corner of Hux's mouth ticked. Lori only needed to see that to know that she had, indeed, gotten that right. Hopefully that would stave off any other questions. She had only memorized that specific part on the manual because she knew it was the one she was most likely to brake. If he asked for anything else and expected that specific of an answer, she would flounder.

Hux looked Lori up and down, and when he couldn't come up with something properly mean spirited to say, he followed up with a petty observation, "you're collar is uneven."

Lori took the lack of a list as a success.

She reached up to straighten it. After she took too long for Hux's liking he waved her away.

His thin hands tugged the starched fabric into place, "You'll have to get a feel for it, I won't be always be around to fix it for you."

Discounting dragging people she had knocked unconscious, it had been a long time since Lori was that close to another person. She hadn't noticed it before, but the general wore a faint cologne. Sharp, but understated, it was a scent she had noticed on certain planets after a rain storm.

Hux was also aware of how long it had been since he had touched another person, though the memory carried a physical pain with it. Lori was very warm, and while he hadn't touched her, he could feel the heat rolling off her neck.

"There," he stepped back, satisfied that her uniform was in order, hair notwithstanding.

She looked down, despite the fact that the collar came up to high under her chin to see, "Thanks."

Shaking off the moment, Hux began walking back to the living room.

"If you encounter someone on the walk back to your room, how do you know if you can speak to them?" he asked over his shoulder.

Lori had read about that one: On-Ship protocols.

"Short answer, don't talk to them unless they're wearing the same colored uniform."

"And the long answer?" he came to a stop at the kitchen counter.

She wasn't going to quote the subsection, but she could paraphrase the rule, "I can talk to anyone with a lower rank, but unless I'm responding to a question or completing a job I don't speak to anyone more than one rank above me. Even then, it would raise some eyebrows."

"Who's ranked lower than you?"

"Squad leaders, sergeants, and lieutenants. Yes, I know what their rank bands look like."

He mulled over another question. A boxed meal sat on the table.

"Army or Navy?"

"Below captain ya'll use the same ranks for both. But the navy uses captain to also refer to the guy in charge of the ship, they outrank everyone who's not a flag officer. Besides that an admiral matches a general, and a commander matches a colonel."

The general wouldn't admit out loud that she had done a good enough job.

"Fine. Be back here in twelve hours. Take the data pad, I expect you not to have forgotten a thing next time I see you."

Lori already felt the information she'd just read sliding out of her head, "wouldn't dream of it."

He slid the box towards her, "Right then, off you go."

"Before I do," she didn't pick up the box, "what's with the twelve hour shifts? The manuals said a standard work cycle is six hours and you've been out all day."

She was too tired to start a mental sparing match that every other conversation seemed to turn into. This was just simple curiosity.

"I'm quite busy." Hux hadn't the energy to get into it either. A little soreness from yesterday's wild flight from Ankus still clung to him.

The general wasn't lying, he was a busy man. He was also a man who desperately wanted to avoid any reminders of his childhood, and his father's old suite reeked of it.

Lori heard the weary layer over Hux's words and decided not to push it. She picker her battles with the intent to win, and she got the feeling that it was too early for that particular fight. The box of food was heavier than the last one.

"Of course," she went to the door, data pad laid over the top of the box.

The bounty hunter left the generals suite without either saying another word. Just like every other time she had been in the hall, it was empty. Lori still wasn't sure of the exact layout of the star destroyer, and decided now wasn't the time to find out. She went to the turbolift at the end of the corridor and quickly walked back to the abandoned suite she has only just started to call home.

When the door slid shut behind her she didn't bother putting the left-overs in the refrigerator. They were still warm and she was hungry. Sitting down over the meal she clicked the data pad back on.

It wasn't connected to the holonet. She had run through every trick and potential back door she could think of, but as far as she could tell, Hux had found a way to remove its connection capabilities completely.

She could still create files, and manipulate what she wanted. With her own records lost, abandoned on the Ankus landing platforms, she created a new document. Creating a password for the file and burying it deep in folders hidden within folders wasn't difficult.

Recalling all the things she had learned about the general and First Order was a bit more difficult, but she managed to make a coherent file about each:

First Order: a hierarchical military group created by former imperial personnel. Resources, unknown. Territorial holdings, unknown. Budget and cash flow, unknown. Authoritarian leanings, one supreme leader (Snoke, origins unknown). Allies: unknown. Adversaries: New Republic, unaligned rebel groups. Current ship size/armament violates several New Republic disarmament treaties.

General Armitage Hux: Age, ~30. Home world, Arkanis. Allies: unknown, possibly none. Enemies: *See First Order, embedded spies (Possibly other officers?). Obsessed with the rule of law. Somewhat autocratic, obsessive about appearance. Dislikes being challenged (is responsive to compliments). Borderline paranoid, extremely guarded about past. Poor self-care habits. Odd behaviors concerning medication, precious with personal space.

Seeing all the little things she had noticed in one place and next to each other, Lori thought she was getting a more complete picture of the general. What she didn't like seeing was that more than one of the notes reminded her of herself. She had always been the one to try and read people like they were stories that could be pieced together. Once she'd seen enough she could usually tell how their tale would end. She didn't look too closely at herself for fear of what she might see, and she suspected that the general was much the same.

Despite trying to focus, Lori couldn't help but think back to the life she'd been living only a few days ago. She thought about all the people that probably hadn't noticed she was missing, and probably never would.

Lori's morning conversation with the general picked at her. Even the agents that had infiltrated the First Order had friends.

The person that best fit the bill for her was Dak. Never mind that she owed him a broken jaw, or worse, for getting her into this mess. If he didn't get himself killed first.

Hux might also count, if only because he was the only person she had talked to in the last few days. Lori pushed the empty to-go box away. She knew better than to put too much stock into working relationships, they never lasted long.

Alone again in the two man suite, and left with nearly half a day to kill before she needed to be anywhere again, Lori went back to the endless files of the data pad.

.***.***.***.***.

When the door slid shut behind the brown haired bounty hunter, General Hux let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Letting himself relax for just a moment, he sat down on one of the barstools. With his head resting in one hand, he rubbed at his temple. Twelve hours of running around a star destroyer that he technically didn't have authority over had nearly been the death of him.

Metaphorically, at least. An hour on the bridge had him standing in Captain Cardinal's shadow, a place that he had gotten far too accustomed to growing up, and a thing that annoyed him in a more particular way than sharing command with Ren did now.

Hux still technically had the final word over the Stormtrooper training program, which he had inherited from his father. He especially loathed the duty for that reason, in addition to the fact that it brought him into contact with more bleeding hearts and soft minded individuals than any other job in the First Order.

Of course, complaining about the other people in charge was a defense mechanism for Hux as much as anything else.

Hux could be vindictive bastard against any of the personnel within the First Order. He could lash out, find the cruelest possible thing to say at any given moment, and make anyone he even looked at feel as though they were as small and insignificant as he secretly felt he was. Somewhere along the line he even began to pride himself on how cold and unpleasant he could be.

But the Stormtrooper program put a crack in that mask.

He decided that the children taken into the program were better off in the ranks of the First Order than they would have been back on their backwater homeworlds. He decided that a life of discipline, even if it were harsh at times, was better than one of utter chaos. He decided that the trooper cadets had it easier than he ever did.

Rarely. Ever so rarely, one of the instructors would do something that showed Hux an echo of his father. Whenever he saw it they would be met with harsh and swift reprisal. None of them ever connected the dots, none of them knew. Or at least if they had, none of them cared. The instructors believed that their retribution came from their beloved Captain Cardinal, who was well known to have a soft spot for the trainees. Hux let them hold on to that. Besides, he thought, it was better for the captain to be the target of revenge from a spurned trainer.

Hux told himself he wasn't defending the troopers to be. He decided that he was simply maintaining First Order assets. Whether he believed himself in either direction, he wasn't sure.

Shaking the derisive thoughts away, he left the counter and made for the old liquor cabinet on the far side of the room. It wasn't stocked with the same spirits he kept on hand, but he would make do with an aged corellian whisky.

Pouring an irresponsible amount over ice, he took a sip before it was properly chilled. Foregoing the bedrooms once again, he went to the private office. He was still playing catch up from the day prior. As it were, he was already overwhelmed with his normal workflow. Hux didn't want to imagine what sort of trouble Kylo Ren had caused aboard the _Finalizer_, but he knew he'd end up with the job of fixing it.

The matter of these deeply embed spies nagged at him as well. Hux wasn't the sort to put his faith in other people, he only thought his troops were capable because he had so carefully put together their training regiments. The thought of leaving his own safety in the hands of some woman he had hired only a day ago still rankled at him.

Swallowing a new mouthful of whiskey, he activated the computer. News from the _Finalizer_ would only worsen his mood, and he hadn't forgotten that he only had six days left to train his new hire.

.***.***.***.***.

AN: Also, also, I know that's not even a close to how military ranks work, but I spent way too long on wookipedia looking up First Order stuff specifically and that's about as much as I could figure out.


	10. Four Days

Four days had come and gone since Lori came aboard the _Absolution_. The only people she had seen besides the general were the occasional other passenger on the turbolift. They never spoke to her, and she never to them, but simply seeing another person made the days seem all the more real.

She had shared her morning meals with the general for the past few days, though they had managed to grid lock each other when it came to learning more. Every once and a while he would come back with some new tidbit of information that Lori was sure he had pulled from an obscure corner of the holonet. She didn't let it bother her too much, she had already scrubbed anything more informative than what she had already told him in person.

Being cut off from her own information sources was doing more to throw her off than anything else he had done. She was returning the favor this morning and showing up ten minutes earlier than usual. Hux was a stickler for a schedule, and by her math he was probably putting the finishing touches on is outfit. It wouldn't be distracting for her, but she knew that it would bug him if he hadn't finished combing his hair, or brushing his teeth, or putting on his cologne, or whatever the last step to his morning routine was.

The code cylinder that unlocked her door also worked on the generals. She had done some testing while he was out of the suite two days ago.

With the hallway as empty as it ever was at this time of day, Lori stepped into the general's suite.

Lori was right to think that she would interrupt the general's morning routine.

She wasn't right to think that he would just be missing a superficial part of his outfit.

When she entered the room, the general was leaving the kitchen and about to step through the door into the study. More importantly, he was only half dressed.

Missing his shirt and undershirt, Lori caught full sight of Hux's thin back. Having only seen his face before, she hadn't noticed just how pale the general actually was. The color contrast between the small of his back and the top of his pants would have been the detail Lori lingered on the longest, if it weren't for the deep scars that made a patchwork across his back.

A few began just below the base of his neck and went straight down along the sides of his spine. Others crisscrossed, like they had been delivered by a whip from the side. They all seemed years old, and had healed with a distinctive silver sheen.

Speechless from the surprise, Lori said nothing. Hux had jumped slightly from hearing his front door open, and darted into the study the moment he had noticed someone standing inside. With the shirtless general quickly turning the corner and leaving view, Lori could just make out another series of smaller circular scars that dotted his left forearm.

Before either had uttered a sound besides the general's surprised yelp, the door slammed shut.

The silence didn't last long.

"What are you doing here!" Hux yelled from beyond the closed door.

Lori took a moment to recover, carefully noting what she had seen and trying to piece together what it could mean.

"You told me to be here." She called back.

There was a short pause, Lori assumed that Hux was checking the time.

"You're early."

"Not that early," she took a seat at the bar.

There was a moments grumbling from the study, Lori couldn't make out the generals exact words. A few ideas floated through her mind while she waited in the main room.

Most of the First Order were from Imperial families. As far as she could tell, the majority of the officers either grew up on star destroyers, or had served under the empire themselves. Hux wasn't that old, and she wasn't sure when he would have seen a battle that would have resulted in scars like that.

Never mind that the marks on his arm resembled burns. She wasn't familiar with any engine component that would leave a pattern like that. They certainly weren't from a blaster.

Lori crossed her arms to run a hand over her shoulder. She was no stranger to hiding scars.

What seemed like an impossibly short time passed before the door slid open again. This time Hux was fully dressed and barely hiding a storm of emotion behind a blank face.

"You keep your clothes in the office?" Lori didn't filter her words as she usually did.

"I said meet here in twelve hours. Not eleven hours and fifty minutes."

She wondered what was so off putting about the bedrooms, but decided it was too much to bring up now.

"Won't happen again." Now was the time to do damage control. She had seen him go guarded over certain topics before, she had learned when she could press buttons and when it was best to lay off, but she hadn't seen the barely hidden rage that the general was keeping at bay.

Lori knew this wasn't about being here ten minutes early. This was about seeing the scars.

Hux knew why he was upset as well. He had over slept, the four hour naps that passed for a nights rest were starting to catch up to him. Hux wasn't only angry that the bounty hunter had seen a sight that had only been witnessed by himself and the man that made them, he was also enraged at himself. He had gotten sloppy and allowed someone to see what he deemed the most pathetic part of himself. He was angry that he was angry. He was truly livid that he knew the bounty hunter wouldn't forget this, and that he had been the one to misstep first.

The general already decided that whatever Lori said next would be the wrong thing. He didn't want her to have the upper hand, and he didn't want to hear whatever clever trick she would come up with.

Falling back on what had become an established routine, Lori walked wordlessly to the refrigerator and retrieved two boxes of food. Fuming, the general took a seat in his usual place at the far end of the bar.

Each of them were acutely aware of the others presence, and neither said a thing when the reheater was done with their meals.

Lori put one of the boxes in front of Hux, and took the other to her seat. The uneasiness in the silence hadn't at all faded by the time both of them were done with their meals.

Hux would have loved nothing more than to be able to escape to the bridge or his office, but neither were an option at this time aboard the _Absolution_. Overseeing trooper training on the lower decks sounded like it's own fresh hell at the moment, so he remained in his seat.

Mind abuzz with a hundred new possibilities, Lori only wanted to start a conversation that would let her refine her theories about the general. She also had the sense enough to know that almost anything that left her mouth would be perceived as an attack.

But she needed to know.

She didn't like it, but the bounty hunter knew that sometimes you needed to give something to get something in return.

"Hux-" she began.

"No." he cut her off.

"Armitage," she began again.

No one had called Hux by his first name in years. If he weren't as paranoid about Lori as he was, he might have forgotten that she even knew it. He looked her in the eyes. The expression in them would have scared anyone else off.

"You don't have to tell me about it," she began.

"I wasn't going to." Hux looked for the trap he was sure the bounty hunter was setting.

Lori didn't look away from the man, his features told a story that she was desperate to read. Keeping up the eye contact, she reached up to the collar of her tunic. Unclasping the top three fasteners she pushed the fabric to the side and pulled her undershirt along with it.

Her shoulder was only just visible. Between it and her collar bone was a round, deep set scar. Hux recognized that it could have only been made by a high caliber blaster bolt, but it was stretched and distorted, as if she had grown up with it there. The edge of a second, web-like wound wrapped around her shoulder, though Hux couldn't see the other edge of it for the clothing that was in the way.

He had seen all there was to see before Lori pulled the fabric back in place.

Hux looked into the gesture, unsure of where his suspected trap may be coming from. His wounds weren't from an even fight, they weren't delivered from a range like those from a blaster. They were personal, and old. Maybe, he thought, just as old as Lori's.

Lori laid an arm on the bar to her right.

He searched for anything that might change the topic away from the literal scars of the past. He settled on the collar of the false officer's uniform. Reaching for it just as he had the other day, he offered a quick deflecting reason.

"Your collar is uneven. Again."

Lori saw through the explanation, but didn't challenge the general.

In the seconds he had spent putting on his shirt, he had still taken the time to put on his cologne. Lori smiled a little at realization. Hux noticed and didn't have to pretend to be taken aback.

"What do you find so amusing?" he hadn't moved his hands away from Loris throat.

"You're interesting. You know that, right?"

Just as Hux was about to be offended by his own interpretation of interesting, Lori kept talking.

"Your cologne is very nice."

He hadn't realized she had noticed. Suddenly feeling -and trying to suppress- a flush of heat that Hux knew was him blushing, the general finished adjusting Lori's collar and then quickly backed away.

A familiar distance now set back between them, they considered one another. Hux searched for the bounty hunters angle or trap. As ready as he had been to lash out, only finding someone who was willing to lean in to his temper without trying to dismiss it had taken him off guard. Then having someone notice -and complement- his efforts was borderline intoxicating.

Hux wanted to be annoyed that she had played her hand so perfectly. He wanted nothing more than to be just as angry and inconsolable as he had been a moment ago, because that was how he had kept himself safe from prying eyes all these years.

He didn't want to wonder how she had gotten her scars. He didn't want to admit that his interest in the woman wasn't just part of a power play anymore.

Hux hated being challenged. He hated every second of it. But he loved the idea of someone being able to truly challenge him.

Lori watched the general's features for any hint of what was going on in his mind. A hard earned blush was quickly fading and it would have been impossible for her not to be proud of it. She didn't live to impress anyone, but she did live to see what made a person tick. Knowing what they knew, seeing what made them burst into a rage and what brought them down from it. She read everyone else like a book, but the general was shut tight.

She never had to tip her hand that far to get through to someone. She never had to let anyone else in, never had to give in-order to get. That someone had finally back her into such a tight corner was addicting.

Lori looked away first.

She still wanted, needed, to know more. And it wasn't just because of their strange back and forth struggle for power through information.


	11. The Third Man

AN: Ok, so I had fun writing this chapter too. I hope it's equally fun to read.

.***.***.***.

Six days into the duos stay on the _Absolution_, General Hux was paid a personal visit by Captain Cardinal.

A broad and well-built man who stood slightly shorter than Hux, but weighed fifty pounds more in toned muscle, the captain wore red Stormtrooper armor. It had been a gift from Brendol Hux, earned shortly after the captain's promotion. His scarlet helmet sat on Hux's kitchen counter. Without it, the general was left to look the man in the eye.

He had closely cut black hair and eyes a similar color. Only two years the captain's junior, Hux had grown up being constantly compared to his father's favorite trooper in training.

"I'm putting the final signatures on the personnel transfer paperwork," the captain stood with just enough ease in his shoulders to annoy Hux, but not quite enough to justify the general snapping at him, "Have the forms hit your inbox yet?"

Hux glanced at the chrono. Lori hadn't been a minute early or late since the incident a couple of days ago. She was due to arrive in just five minutes, and the general wasn't sure if he could get the captain to leave in that time without making it an order.

"They've already been signed and forwarded. The only chance for a delay now lies with your human resources officer."

Cardinal knew Hux well enough not to take his barbs personally, but he still didn't take them lying down.

"There will be no delay. My officers are expertly trained."

"If only because I put the programs together." Hux fired back without a second thought.

The captain was far too easy to talk back to, especially compared to the generals more recent conversation partner.

Three minutes left on the clock, the captain spent one of them biting his tongue.

"How's has your stay been? I take it you've made yourself back at home?"

Hux stopped himself from twitching. Cardinal had known Brendol as a different person than Armitage did. As far as the captain was aware Brendol had been a stern but ultimately fair authority figure. Cardinal was under the impression that Brendol had treated his son just as he had treated him, and as far as Cardinal was concerned Armitage was little more than a spoiled brat who had grown into an arrogant commander.

Even if the captain learned the truth, Hux wouldn't have accepted his pity, "You certainly haven't. I thought you had command over the ship, yet you've let a dead man keep you from the privilege that comes with the position."

The words rubbed Cardinal in just the wrong way. He opened his mouth to tell the general as much when the door to the hall opened.

When Cardinal looked over he saw an army captain he didn't recognize. When Lori looked into the room she saw the first person who was going to test her cover story. Hux was the first to break the sudden silence.

"Captain Gallus, do you have the reports I requested?"

Naturally playing along Lori took a step forward and handed Hux the data pad he had given her at the beginning of the week. She stood as if she were an attendant waiting for additional orders. She knew better than to meet captain Cardinals eyes, but she felt his gaze on her.

Only after he spoke to her did she think about speaking to him.

"Who are you? There is no captain Gallus assigned to my ship."

Lori already had a response at the ready, but Hux cut her off.

"She's one of my aids. Don't tell me you didn't notice an additional face in your crew."

Cardinal didn't question for a second the idea that Hux would bring additional personnel onto the _Absolution_ without notifying the bridge first. Still, he was a professional and he knew better than to openly confront someone of higher rank in front of junior officers, they had a habit of gossiping.

"My mistake. Are there any other special measures you've taken while visiting my ship?"

Between his body language and the clipped tone of his words, Lori was half expecting the captain to start swinging at the general.

Hux pretended to take a moment to think about it, though only because he knew it would annoy captain Cardinal.

"No, I don't think I have."

After failing to suppress a grimace the captain picked up his helmet while giving another thinly veiled insult, "Very well. I hope you enjoyed your stay in your father's suite, general."

Cardinal didn't realize how deep the words would cut. Lori saw that they did and added it to the mental notes she had been collecting over the last few days: Father's old dwelling. Certain rooms are off limits, even to the general.

The captain made to leave. Hux waited until the door had been closed for a moment before setting the data pad down on the kitchen counter.

"An old friend of yours?" Lori leaned against the bar.

"Hardly," the general stepped towards the refrigerator.

He pulled out two boxed meals while Lori took her turn to talk, "didn't realize I was promoted to general's aid."

"You're not," he put the boxes in the reheater, "when we reach the _Finalizer_ you'll still be reporting in to me but you'll have an official job to be doing as well."

"Captain what's-his-name won't go complaining about your surprise shipmate?" she took a seat, trying to get a feel for the exact relationship between the two men.

Hux was always ready to complain about Cardinal. He didn't consider his disdain for the man to be private information, "He'll go and pout in his quarters, but he's given up trying to get me removed from my position."

How so? Lori wanted to ask. How long have you had your position? She also needed to know.

She left those questions unasked, knowing that they would be stepping just a little too far out of line.

"Which one?" she settled on.

Somehow, she managed to get through all the files in the data pad. As far as she could tell, Hux was at the head of no less than four separate projects, one of which wasn't even listed with a name.

The general pulled the food out of the reheater and placed it on the counter, "which one do you think it is?"

Lori pulled a box towards her. Did she go with her actual suspicions? Or did she pick a softer answer. She thought the general might be able to tell when she was lying to him, he had nearly caught her in a couple of lies over the last few days. He waited to see what she would say, not only so that he could judge her answer, but also so that he could pick at how much she had remembered from the files.

She went on the offensive and gave her genuine guess.

"The Stormtrooper Initiative."

Hux's hand stopped half way to his mouth. Lori watched for additional hint at what meaning the general had taken from her answer.

"And how did you arrive at that conclusion?"

She saw her chance to push back, "hmmm. I think I just counted two questions in a row. I thought it was my turn."

When he stared at her instead of saying anything in return, Lori tried again.

"It's give to get, general. I thought we established that days ago."

Revealing ones scars and talking about them were two very different things in the generals mind. He also knew better than to play the bounty hunters game because he wasn't sure that he could win.

He knew better, but there was still a thrill in the back and forth.

"Very well. Ask your question."

As much as she wanted to know what sharp remark was buried in the captain's last comment, Lori knew that it would be asking too much too soon.

But she would find out eventually. She had promised herself as much.

Instead she settled on a more round about method.

"What's the story with the captain?"

His reaction was too fast, "There is none. How did you know it was the Stormtrooper initiative?"

"Oof. Try that again, then I'll tell you," Lori gently called him on the lie.

Hux took a moment to eat some of his meal. He used it as an excuse for why it was taking him so long to respond. Simply saying he loathed the trooper because Cardinal had found a father in Brendol that Armitage could never hope to have, didn't even cross the general's mind.

"He thinks he knows more about me than I do," was the most generic but still true answer that Hux could come up with.

"That it?"

"I answered your question, it's my turn now."

Lori shrugged and back off a little. It was a delicate dance, and she had learned to recognize the generals favorite moves.

"Alright, alright. I figured it was about the troopers because they're trained here. Being Cardinals ship, it's not a big leap to guess that he wants command over its operations all to himself."

Now that he heard the thread of logic, Hux realized that he had been too quick to react. The bounty hunter hadn't been highlighting the connection between Hux, his father, and the captain at all. At least, she hadn't before Hux answered her question. He realized his misstep too late and bit his tongue while Lori took her turn.

"So, what is it that this captain thinks he knows?"

He still wasn't sure what she did and didn't know, and what she had or hadn't put together. Annoyed that he was starting to second guess himself to the point that he was doing more to destabilize himself more than Lori was, Hux went on the offensive.

"He thinks I'm arrogant, or spoiled. Perhaps a combination of both. What about you, what do you think?"

Lori might agree with the first bit of that assessment but, "Spoiled seems harsh, I get the impression that you earned more than you were given."

"Is that so?"

"Ah, ah, general. My turn."

Hux took a forkful from his plate.

"What about me, how do I strike you?"

He had several responses to pick from. A few were far more kind that he was comfortable to say. Others were cruel or massively petty, standard barbs that were based more in the spite he held for people at large than at Lori in particular.

"Difficult," he settled on, "though I'm not sure it's to your detriment."

Lori moved the corner of her mouth to make a small side grin, "You sure do know how to compliment a gal, general."

Hux pushed his finished try away, "I think you know exactly how challenging you are."

She finished the last bite of her entrée before turning to face the general, "I only do it because you make it worth my while."

And because he was one of the few people who could push back just as well, though she wasn't going to let him know that any time soon.

Neither of the two moved, the tension from their last words tying them in place.

Lori saw at the generals features in a new light. He had been pleasant enough to look at from the beginning, but now she took note of his high checks and strong brow. His eyes were round, but deeply set and tired. Pale green and slightly watery, she knew he needed more sleep, and if she weren't sure the advice would get rebuffed she would tell him so. His lips were surprisingly plump for how thin the rest of is features were.

She wondered if they were as soft as they looked.

While Lori took stock of his features, Hux did much the same to her. Before only looking at the bounty hunter in terms of what she could do for him, he now took note of her narrow chin and rounded cheeks. Her eyes were a dark blue, to the point he thought they were black before looking more closely. They were almond shaped and held a certain twinkle in them that suggested she always knew more than who she was speaking to.

They drove Hux wild.

The tension was broken by a chime from the office. A message alert came from the computer, urgent by the sound of it.

Hux blinked first.

"We transfer to the _Finalizer_ in twenty hours. Your lodging and a cover job will be arranged. I'll have the information to you within the hour."

Lori felt the moment pass. Sorry that she hadn't the chance to act on it, she went on as if nothing were amiss, "Wouldn't have it any other way."

The general quickly made for the desk.

He hadn't hired her just to have stimulating conversation. Lori had a network of traitors and infiltrators to ferret out.

Come tomorrow Hux expected her to get to work.


	12. The Finalizer

Lori didn't recognize the model of ship that she was sitting on. Another transport with folding wings, she was just sure that it wasn't another lambda. The paint job was too dark, it only had two wings to the lambdas three, and its wingspan was about 18 meters longer. Despite that, the passenger capacity was lower. As a result she was jammed between two lieutenants.

From now until 2200 Lori was on her own.

As far as anyone else in the First Order was concerned, Lori had been working there for four years after getting recruited with an officer's commission from a no name planet just south of Hutt Space. She was a supply officer and always had been. The only thing left for her to do was sell the act.

The ride wasn't going to be that long, two hours at light speed. An older captain muttered to a lieutenant at the end of the bench.

"The _Finalizer _is a fine ship, and a privilege to serve on. Just keep off the bridge during third shift."

The dark haired lieutenant barely spoke above a whisper, "why's that sir? Is the general on duty then?"

"Worse." The captain sounded like he was speaking from experience.

Lori could only guess that he was talking about Hux's co-commander aboard the _Finalizer_.

Kylo Ren had been one of the only things Hux hadn't been guarded about during their talks. Most of what the general had to say about the other man was a complaint, but even those gave Lori more clues about what made the general tick.

Ren held no official position in the military of the First Order. Hux had been quick to point out that the man shouldn't have any right to challenge his command on the bridge. Not only because he hadn't the rank to do so, but also because Ren apparently didn't know a thing about battle tactics or even the capabilities of a star destroyer.

Lori was half sure that Hux was blowing some of his complaints out of proportion, but the fact that the other officers were talking about Ren in tones more hushed than the ones they used to refer to the general gave Lori pause for thought.

The pause didn't last long before the ship gave the telltale shake that came with dropping out of hyperspace. The door to the cockpit was shut, else Lori would have heard the garbled permission to land come from the bridge of the star destroyer.

There were no windows visible from her seat to see the approach. The landing was so smooth that she was only aware that they had arrived after the loading ramp hissed and began to lower.

The hanger was much like the one she'd seen aboard the _Absolution_. What she now recognized as black clad enlisted men, and officers in gray and blue swarmed this way and that in the halls beyond the hanger. Storm troopers in their white plastoid armor walked in formation behind their squad leader, denoted by the black portion of their otherwise white uniform.

Everyone in the transport stood and made their way into formation, Lori made no attempt to stand out as she mingled in the crowed. Everyone should have already received their new assignments. This was just a final inspection for formalities sake.

Lori knew she was in no danger of failing it. Not only because Hux was the one doing the inspection, but because he had been hopelessly nit-picky all week long, and she knew she was wearing the uniform better than the examples in the manual did.

Another flag officer talked to Hux at the far edge of her vision. She could tell them by their almost black uniforms and Hux's bright hair. She had mistakenly called Hux's uniform black once, only to get lectured for fifteen minutes about the difference between black and charcoal gray. She was pretty sure they were intentionally similar to the color that enlisted men wore. It was hard to tell at a distance and she could already imagine some new hire confusing the two.

She took her place in formation. Standing at the center right, they were arranged by height and rank. It went by fast enough. Hux and the other high ranking official that ended up being an admiral came and went past her. A few harsh words came from down the line.

Someone's rank band had gone off center. Lori didn't look down the line at who had messed up, if she needed conversation filler she would just ask Hux later.

After more mindless formalities that Hux had drilled her on before leaving, they were dismissed. As a concept, Lori knew where her suite should be, but getting there was its own feat. More than once she misremembered a map and ended up wondering past a weapons depot or down a hall of offices.

Eventually she came to the turbolift that would drop her closest to her room.

Stepping into the hall she made mental note that Hux's room was three floors up and three hundred meters forward.

As a junior officer, her suite would have a standard common area – that was the continuous kitchen living room. There would be four bedrooms and no private study. Each room would be single occupancy and have a shared bathroom.

Lori readied herself to put on an outer rim accent for the next twelve hours.

The code cylinder on her left opened the door with a near silent whoosh. She was greeted by a living room crowded with who Lori assumed to be all three of her suitemates.

One of them jumped slightly at the new comer. The second was busy talking in hushed tones to the third who sat on the couch with her back to the door. As she stepped further into the room, Lori heard a few sharp breaths that told her one of them had just been crying.

"I already messed up," the fair haired lieutenant on the couch choked out.

"We all do something stupid at least once." The woman consoling her was a captain with closely chopped black hair.

Lori tuned a questioning glance at the roommate who had reacted to her entering. Another lieutenant with dusty brown hair and a similar height to Lori, she wore her hair in a tucked braid rather than a bun.

"She got yelled at by general Hux during inspections," she offered lamely.

_You've got to be kidding me,_ Lori thought to herself.

The lieutenant went on, "I'm Vanya Dynmo. I take it you're in the third room?"

"I am. The name is Lori Gallus, by the way." She walked to stand even with Vanya.

Having passed the couch she caught a few more snippets of the other two's conversation.

"Don't worry about Hux, he yells at everyone a least once. You'll probably never even see him again."

"I'm bridge crew," the lieutenant muttered.

The captain cringed a little and then tried to go on, "you'll be fine just, ahhh, I don't know…" she looked up to Vanya for help.

Vanya gave a shrug and a panicked shake of the head that said she wasn't going to be any help in a time like this. Lori took a second to figure out what kind of personality she was going to be wearing around her roommates.

She quickly made up her mind.

"You just transferred here too, huh?" she spoke to the woman sitting on the couch.

The lieutenant looked up, a slight red tinge stuck to the skin around her eyes, "yea."

Lori sat next to her, "Same. I heard someone getting chewed out it line, I take it that was you?"

The other captain backed off and went to talk to Vanya for a moment.

"Everyone heard it, didn't they?"

Lori made sure she was talking loud enough for everyone to hear, but not so much that it seemed out of the ordinary, "I can't speak for everyone in the hanger, but I wouldn't worry about Hux. Rumor has it that he's an ass to everybody."

She was here to find a spy ring that was actively trying to murder the general, and any other members of the high command that they could get their hands on. It was a calculated move on Lori's end to make her roommates think that she was no fan of the man. That way, when she eventually got the traitors attention, anyone they asked about her would only have things to say that made Lori look like a potential ally.

"Careful captain," the black haired woman stepped back towards the couch, "you can say whatever you want in the suite, but I wouldn't be sharing rumors out in the hall."

As far as Lori could tell, the other captain was being genuine with her warning, but she naturally came off as a little rough.

"I don't plan on it. My name is Lori, last name Gallus. Nice to meet you captain…"

"It's Tetch. Sydney Tetch. You already met lieutenant Dynmo." Sydney moved to gesture towards the couch, "and that's lieutenant Grier."

"You can call me Quin," the light haired lieutenant said from her place next to Lori.

Lori leaned into the stiff cushions, "Nice to meet all of you. I know you just transferred in, but how long have you two been here?"

Sydney nodded at the room closest to the front door, "I've lived in that room for the last four years. Dynmo's been here for the past three."

"But I was stationed on the _ISD Harbinger_ for a year before that." Vanya quickly added, "What about you?"

"I just came from the _Absolution_. I spent four years as a supply officer, I'm doing the same job here."

"Supply? I hope you know a good source for control panel replacements, because we go through, like, at least five a week."

"Vanya…" Sydney gave the lieutenant a low pitched warning.

"What? I'm just warning her." She looked at the captain with a fake innocence before turning back to Lori, "Besides Hux we get to deal with Kylo Ren. He's got a habit of breaking things, usually control panels, sometimes junior officers."

"That's enough of that." Sydney talked over the last of Vanya's comment, "I'm making a pot of caf, and leaving for my shift. Wait until I'm out of ear shot before you start gossiping about high command."

Lori watched Vanya roll her eyes. She was left with the impression that conversations like this happened frequently between the two. After the captain found her way into the kitchen, Vanya had plopped down into the chair that sat to the left of the couch.

"Never mind Sydney, she's real no non-sense. I work in operations, she's a weapons officer."

Vanya chatted on as Sydney poured her drink into an insulated cup and left the room. Occasionally Quin would have something to add, but the flustered lieutenant mostly kept silent. After a quarter of an hour had ticked by and everyone was satisfied that they had been introduced properly, Lori made her excuses to leave and made for her room.

It was near identical to the one she had stayed in aboard the _Absolution_. The key difference being that the closet was more fully stocked with uniforms, and that there was a data pad sat on the bedside table.

Keying the door locked behind her, Lori sat on the bed and picked up the pad.

Standard issue as far as she could tell. It connected to the holonet, unlike the modified one she'd had to deal with for the past week.

She could send a message out to some of her old contacts, at least let somebody know that she was borderline trapped on a warship in the middle of the unknown regions. None of them would be in any place to do anything about it, and even if they were she would owe someone a favor.

While she mulled her options over, Lori opened a news feed for the first time in a long time.

Political scandal. An uptick in crime. The Hutts had claimed three new star systems, and were now officially at war with the New Republic over them. No troops had been deployed to deal with it. She checked the public page for the bounty hunters guild. Record number of bounties had been posted, for the third month in a row.

At least two high profile assassinations in the outer rim. One of a crime boss that Lori thought was better off dead, and one of the head of a well-known aid organization. Corescant was suffering massive power outages. Over twelve billion sentients were without power due to a workers strike. They wanted additional laws that protected worker's rights, and the senate was grid locked over passing them.

Deciding that she was probably better off under cover on a rogue star destroyer than she would be back in the mid rim, Lori was about to click the screen off and get a nap. A message alert stopped her.

There was no indication of who sent it, but Lori had one guess.

A message from Hux. It was a detailed diagram of a chain of command. At the top was Admiral Brooks, a line drawn through his name and replaced by Admiral Besseg. Lori assumed Besseg to be the other man Hux had been with. Near the bottom of the chain was another crossed out name.

Matthias Saul. A radar technician. He had been the one to sabotage Hux's shuttle and start this whole thing. Lori clicked a link attached to the name. He had been assigned to the same office as the one that Lori was going to. She would start looking there for any friends of his. The chain of command was a good lead, but she thought that the people Matt had interacted to on the day to day would be where she would find his saboteur friends.

She was disguised as army rather than navy, and her chain of command eventually ended at General Hux. But, for as strictly hierarchical as the First Order was in every other way, they had surprisingly little separation between the two branches. Lori attributed the nearly blended structure to the fact that the First Order considered its capital to be another ship, the _Supremacy_, rather than an actual planet.

Closing the attached files Lori found a short message waiting for her.

"2200. Your rightmost code cylinder will open the door."

She didn't need the reminder, but it was nice to know that she wouldn't be left waiting in the hall for any passerby to see.

Saving the attachments in a locked file and then deleting the message, Lori stood from the bed. She should check in to her new office. Glancing at the chrono, Lori found she still had nine hours between now and her meeting with the general.

Lori thought that having to keep up the act of a hard working officer while also doing her real job might prove a challenge.

Might.


	13. Reporting for Duty

AN: Hey ya'll I just realized that I haven't had the chance to mention yet, but this is going to be a 3 part series + a prologue & epilogue. The prologue had been up for a while, I just don't think I've mentioned that it exists anywhere in the past authors notes. Anyhow, thanks for reading & extra thanks to those who comment.

.***.***.***.***.

Admiral Bessig was less a thorn in Hux's side than Brooks. He was also less commanding, less intelligent, and less competent.

"That will be all admiral. You're dismissed," Hux spoke to the older man with a thinly veiled disdain.

They were technically of an equal rank, but it was Hux's ship. More importantly to the admiral and most of the other officers in the First Order, general Hux had the ear of Supreme Leader Snoke. Anyone who questioned the general feared they might find out how he had gained that attention in the most harmful way possible.

Bessig left without any attempt to challenge the general.

Shortly after the door slid shut, Hux checked the time.

Lori was due to be there in only a few minutes. If she were unlucky she might pass the admiral in the hall. Hux sat at the table on the far side of the living room. His suite aboard the _Finalizer _was different to that he had stayed upon on the_ Absolution_. In fact, the commander's suite here was different to that on any of the other ships in the First Order. Being divided in two, the commanders suites were split level.

The door was half a level above the living room. On the entry level was the kitchen, and just beyond that was a set of stairs, one section of which went half a floor down to the living room. The only bedroom connected to the living room, its door at the foot of the steps. The other section of stairs went upwards to a private office. A wide but short window allowed Hux to see the entirety of the living room from his desk.

Along the far wall of the living room was a tall and narrow window that showed the void of space. Hux gazed out of it while he waited.

He didn't have long to look before the door slid open.

Lori stepped in, taking in details of the room as she went. After she had taken her moment, she leaned on the low rails that separated the entry level from the living room.

"The key to your door is awfully convenient," She spoke with her heavy wild space drawl.

"I trust you won't abuse it," Hux didn't move from his seat.

"Wouldn't dream of it." She left the landing and made for the table. She slid into the chair opposite the general without asking for an invitation, "The charts are useful. I can guess that you dealt with the radar tech, but the admiral too?"

Hux sat up straight in his chair. A nearly untouched cup of caf was all that sat between them.

"Traitors at any rank won't be tolerated."

Lori searched the general's features for meaning. It didn't take her long to find it, "Ruthless of you, general. I figured you'd just court martial him or something. Justice at the end of a blaster doesn't suite you."

It was no secret that Admiral Brooks was dead. It was, however, not supposed to be common knowledge that Hux had shot the man.

"What leads you to believe that?"

Whether Hux was asking Lori why a blaster didn't suit him, or why he hadn't court martialed the admiral, he wasn't sure.

"A little birdy might have mentioned that you shot him dead." Lori decided to address the source of her information instead.

Hux would have said something harsh, but Lori had that annoyingly coy smile sitting on her lips. Luckily for her, it slowed Hux's quick response just enough for her to keep talking.

"Well, no one told me directly. I swung by a mess hall for lunch, and no one talks as quietly as they think they do."

He'd walked into a trap within the first thirty seconds of starting a conversation. The general would have been annoyed by showing more than he'd meant, but he had to be impressed by how quickly the bounty hunter had picked up information.

Still, he did have a reputation to maintain.

"I expect that you'll not have a problem with my methods." He curled a hand around the mug that sat on the table.

Lori put an elbow on the table and leaned into a hand, "Being extreme doesn't mean you aren't effective. Far as I'm concerned you got him before he got you."

"I'd argue that you have to be extreme if wish to be effective at all." The general took a sip of warm caf after he spoke.

"Not sure if I can disagree with you there. Now why'd you call me in? I look forward to our little chats as much as anything, but I didn't think you'd expected me to figure out anything useful in less than a day."

Back to business. Hux knew it would come back to that eventually, but he consider this to be somewhat of a social call.

"Mostly to check in. It pays to keep one's allies close at hand."

"Good to know I make the list," Lori lifted her head from her hand, but kept leaning on the table, "is there anything else on this ship I need to keep an eye out for?"

A few names came to the general. Kylo Ren. Captain Phasma. More than a few of the senior officers were especially harsh on new transfers.

"Nothing I'm sure you can't handle." He said instead.

Lori heard a challenge in the words, but didn't call the general on it, "if that's the case, why don't you tell me more about your traitors. Someone wants you dead, knowing their motive would be nice."

And so the delicate dance between sharing vital information and keeping too many clues about each other firmly locked away started again.

"I head several vital projects. There are forces in the galaxy that would rather see those endeavors fail."

"Stars are hot and space is cold, general. Tell me something I don't know."

The corner of Hux's mouth ticked in annoyance, Lori took that as a sign to ease off the sarcasm just a little bit.

"Anarchists. The galaxy would be better off under the heel of the First Order, but some of the fools can't see that."

"Sounds I'm looking for the rebellious type. Seems like they'd stand out in a place like this"

"So you would think, but they're talented liars."

Lori leaned back in her chair, "looks like it's time someone beat them at their own game."

"Indeed. I would tell you to make quick work of it, but…"

"…rebels are a problem as old as time." Lori picked up where the general trailed off.

"I'm pleased that you understand that."

Hux took those words to mean that there were always a few renegades that didn't respect the rule of law. That there were always a few anarchists who just wanted to see the world burn. He took it to mean that it was his duty to thoroughly stamp out the fires of rebellion so that they would never smolder enough to as eventually burn the whole system down.

Lori took them to mean that there would always be some people that weren't satisfied. That no matter how perfect a system was, there would always be people who found a flaw in it. And likewise, no matter how broken a society, there would always be a few who truly believed in it.

Each assumed that the other understood.

Lori took the next step of the conversation, "I checked the news after moving in. Looks like there's a war on in the mid-rim."

"It will be one sided. The New Republic can't even keep the lights on."

"It's a shame," Lori went on, checking for facial ques and hints as she went along, "the New Republic really could have been something."

"If they weren't afraid of power," Hux tacked on.

"Like the Empire?"

"Like the First Order," He corrected, "the New Republic's days are numbered. They haven't the ability to make decisions, let alone enforce them. If it doesn't dissolve by its own doing then it will shatter into pieces the moment we challenge them."

Lori wasn't opposed to a change in authority over the galaxy. She wasn't sure she had seen a stable system once in her life, never mind that the news was only negative. But…

"If you plan on starting a war, you can expect your spy problem to quadruple."

The general looked at her, eyes awake with the spark that speaking of the future always brought with it.

"I don't plan on starting a war. I plan on finishing one."

The bounty hunter didn't flinch under the general's gaze. She had opinions about the New Republic. None of them were strong enough to make her defend it, but none would bring her to raise a blaster against it either.

Rules and governments were just another thing that came and went as far as Lori was concerned. Her mother had worn an imperial uniform, and her grandfather one from the galactic republic. They had hated each other and they would probably loathe the First Order and New Republic both.

Still, Lori hadn't seen anyone starving aboard the _Absolution_ or the _Finalizer_. That was more than she could say about the New Republic.

"Highly ambitious of you." She lazily crossed her legs and made every move she knew that would show easy confidence, "I'm interested to see how you manage."

The surface of the table was wide enough to keep a distance between them, but Hux's long arms took up the entirety of one edge when he leaned against it.

"Rest assured. Within the decade the New Republic will be remembered as nothing but a dark time in history, and the First Order will have only just begun a thousand year reign."

The galaxy was too chaotic to let Lori believe Hux. Despite that, a light in the general's eye that told her, in no uncertain terms, that he truly believed every word that came out of his mouth. She had to admire the commitment.

She wanted to believe him.

"I look forward to seeing it."


	14. The Office of Shuttle Maintenance

Lori had been at work for one week. Twenty people were assigned to her office, half of whom had been friends with Matt the radar technician. Other than her first meeting with Hux, she hadn't been back to his quarters. She had seen him once or twice in the halls, but they gave no hint that they knew each other on a personal level. She had sent in a few reports and asked for additional information on a few names that seemed like solid leads.

So far she hadn't been able to connect anyone with a spy ring, but she did find more evidence of sabotage. Being careful not to draw attention to herself, she worked with the general to arrange it so that someone from a different office found it.

As a result, the First Order Security Bureau had gotten involved. Not even they knew about her cover, and now she had to maintain a delicate balance between looking like a potential ally to the traitors, and not drawing the attention of the investigators.

One of them, an FOSB colonel, had just finished talking to one of the sergeants and was now making his way to Lori's station.

"Captain Gallus," his hair was going gray at the temples and the man walked with a stiffness that told Lori he had injured his hip long ago.

"Yes sir." She put down a data pad that had work befitting of a supply officer on it.

"I have a few questions, I understand that you are the commanding officer."

She nodded politely, "That's correct sir, what is it you need to know?"

"Please, sit" he gestured at one of the spare desks, Lori suspected that this wasn't going to be a quick conversation.

Doing as the older man asked, she let him have the nicer of the two chairs. The surface of the table was bare besides an inset computer screen that hadn't been activated in days.

"I'm sure you're aware of the incident a few days ago."

"The shuttle malfunction?" she purposely responded incorrectly and too quickly, "what about it?"

The colonel took his own meaning and gave Lori a hard look, "It wasn't a malfunction at all, captain. There was evidence of tampering on an Upsilon shuttles thermal couplings. I understand that this office is responsible for ordering those parts."

It was. Lori wasn't sure that the colonel knew how long it took to actually source, order, and install a thermal coupling. If he were, he wouldn't be bothering her about it because she hadn't been in her position long enough to have had any part in it. She wasn't about to tell him as much, it would tilt her too far into looking suspicious.

She played along instead.

"You're correct sir. Upsilon thermal couplings fall under items acquisitions, subsection E. Do you need access to our records?"

She had made a persona for herself as an overly eager captain. Her plan was to appear to be easily manipulated to the point that one of the traitors would approach her first. No one had done so yet, so she had been trying to quietly interject herself into as many conversations as possible.

More importantly, whenever she heard someone say something critical of high command she would quickly act as if she were checking that no one higher ranking than her had heard them. It wasn't something aggressive enough to make anyone think she was considering defecting, but to someone who was looking for a recruit it should make her look like she already had rebel sympathies.

Now she had to balance that persona with what the colonel would be expecting to see.

"That would be helpful, yes ma'am. Is there anyone in this office that you think might have reason to tamper with the couplings?"

"Gosh, I don't know sir. No one here has ever threatened to do anything like that."

"What have they said?" He thought he heard a thread to pull on.

She had hoped he would have latched on to that part of the comment. Every unit had some grumbling going on, but it would have been too shrewd for the person her men thought her to be to it deny it.

"Nothing that bad. Just complaining about the work load. Did you know we had a request for two hundred thousand metric tons of reactor fuel come through here? It's going to take days just to find the suppliers for that. Never mind that I need to arrange enough transports for it. The logistics officer has already complained that we're taking up too much of her time. And the budget office has been lowing our funding, it's like they don't want us to be able to do our job."

To anyone watching, Lori was just being a captain that complained about other offices. A little more innocent than the others, but largely the same. In the colonel's eyes she was unintentionally giving him his next lead.

He took her comment about the budgeting office more seriously than he should have, "What has budgeting done to give you that idea?"

She hesitated for a moment, leaving the colonel to think she was just worried about retribution coming from a scorned budgeting officer.

"Well… it was going on before I got here -and you didn't hear this from me- but they keep cutting our funding, citing that we've been performing poorly. But we keep performing poorly because we're underfunded. I'm trying to fix it, but it's only a matter of time before the whole office gets replaced."

She saw wheels turning in the colonel's head.

Everything she said had been half true. Hux had been trying to quietly flush all the workers from this office to places that they wouldn't be able to do as much damage. Now that Lori was here it made more sense to keep all of them in one place, so his efforts had stopped. When the colonel looked into what Lori had just said, his suspicions would no doubt fall on the budgeting office.

That left Lori looking like she had unintentionally taken the heat off of the real traitors hidden in the supply office, while simultaneously helping the FOSB find their culprits down the hall.

"Noted. Thank you, captain Gallus. That's very helpful."

Lori was playing the colonel like a fiddle and he didn't even know it.

"I hope so, do you need anything else?"

He stood from the chair, "No I don't think I do. I'll make sure to come back if I change my mind."

Lori stood from her seat as well and saw him to the end of her work area. They hadn't been in an enclosed office, but the other workers had kept a respectful distance. Focused on getting the colonel out of her office, Lori hadn't noticed that one of the sergeants had spent longer than normal putting boxes on one of the shelves.

Being just at the edge of ear shot while he worked, Sargent Vaylor only made out enough of the conversation to be sure of two things.

The captain chose not to mention his comments about the First Order, and she had accidentally steered the FOSB away from his allies in the logistics office.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux stood with his hands clasped behind his back. The view from the bridge of the _Finalizer_ was one of the few things that made serving alongside Kylo Ren worth it. Computers hummed and reports flowed as requested between navigation officers and the propulsion operators.

They traveled towards the galactic west. Hux was due back at Starkiller base, and being further away from New Republic space would only make the traitors job all the more difficult.

"Entering anomalous space," the second string navigator called out.

Hux let himself be satisfied for a moment. Anomalous space meant that leaving in a vessel any smaller than one hundred thousand tons would be suicidal.

"Closing hanger bays, all TIEs are accounted for," another member of the bridge crew updated the rest.

"Engines at sixty percent, maintaining cruising speed."

Hux could have listened to the buzz of a perfectly operational star destroyer for the rest of his life. He would have done it for the rest of his shift if Kylo Ren hadn't interjected himself.

"Increase engine power. Ready my TIE." The black clad and masked man called out from half way down the officers walk.

"No. Keep it to sixty percent," Hux was quick to contradict him. He added an extra bit of information, not as an explanation, but simply to show that he knew more than Ren, "You'll stress the reactor shielding if you increase it now."

"Do what I said." Ren didn't change is command.

The bridge crew hated it when the commanders fought. No matter who they listened to it was a losing choice. More often than not they just stayed course until one of them walked off in a huff. On good days their exchanges only lasted a few seconds. On bad days Ren ended up nearly killing someone with his powers that the crew still didn't fully understand.

Rumor had it that Ren had once thrown the general across a room without touching him. There was a betting pool on whether it had happened or not, with half the officers saying it hadn't simply because Hux would have arranged for Kylo Ren's death if it had.

Hux wasn't going to change the tiniest thing about his ship for Ren's sake.

"We're in the Fandogan anomaly area. It's a day across at light speed. Even if I let you increase the engines to full power you won't be able to take your TIE out on a joy ride."

This wasn't passing quickly. The crew started intently focusing on their screens.

Ren's hand twitched over the hilt of his lightsaber.

"Special assignment form Supreme Leader Snoke. I'm taking my TIE. Turn the ship around or answer to him."

_Damn_, the general thought to himself.

Going over Hux's head to Snoke was the one way Ren could win. The opposite was also true, and there had been more than one occasion where Hux invoked the Supreme Leaders name to get his way.

"Navigation," the general spoke to the crew rather than Kylo Ren.

The crew knew how much that annoyed the dark side user, but they didn't dare ignore the general.

"Adjust the yaw, set course for the nearest edge of the Fandogan area." Hux made sure to keep his gaze settled on Ren for the last section of his order, "Maintain engines at sixty percent."

Ren grit his teeth, no one could see it through the mask. He technically had his order followed, and the supreme leader hadn't said that his mission was urgent, but the pure contempt that sat in Hux's mind grated at Ren.

"Have two weeks rations put in my ship." He decided to order the general around like he was a petty junior officer.

Before Hux had time to rebut the would-be dark lord, Ren was gone from the bridge.

.***.***.***.***.

"Captain Gallus," sergeant Vaylor had just received a short notice order for travel rations.

Lori looked up from her data pad, quickly opening a mundane spreadsheet to hide some of her personal notes.

"What is it sergeant?"

He had been too far away from her to notice the data pads screen.

"I just got an order for two weeks travel rations."

That didn't sit right, "An order? Not a request?"

"No, it came straight from the bridge."

That seemed even more off. Lori glanced around the office. All twenty of them were going about their business, and well within earshot. She decided to cast a wide net for traitors with her next comment.

"Is it too much to ask for them to follow standard operating procedure? When do they need the rations, and where are they going?" she opened up the relevant form while keeping an eye open for anyone's reaction to her lightly critical comment.

"Within an hour, to Kylo Ren's personal TIE. And sorry captain, the bridge thinks they're too big for their own rules."

Keeping in character Lori grimaced slightly and gave a quick but obvious glance around the room.

She typed as she talked.

"The FOSB was just in here Vaylor, cool it a little." She made sure she was just weak enough on her reprimand to make Vaylor think she didn't mean it.

While the sergeant came to his own conclusions, Lori submitted the approval forms to the kitchens.

"Sure thing, captain. Do you need me to fetch the things from the mess hall?"

"No, they're closer to the hanger. They'll be making the delivery." She added an explanation to keep the sergeant from wondering if she didn't trust him.

Because she didn't. Of everyone else in the room no one even flinched at her comment, but Vaylor went out of his way to address it.

"Saves me some steps, thank you." The sergeant lingered for a moment, as if he were trying to think of something else to say.

When he couldn't come up with a good segway he stepped away with a less formal good bye than usual.

Lori returned the gesture before sitting back down at the desk and apparently checking her supply sheets. In reality she was opening up a new file and writing down what she knew about the sergeant. One strange exchange didn't make him a traitor, but there were too many things that made the moment stand out for Lori.

She wouldn't tell Hux about it either, not yet. Wildly naming people would only make her look unreliable in the long term. Lori thought naming an innocent man wouldn't be great, but she considered the possibility that it would only make the real traitors more difficult to find even worse.


	15. Make it a Double

AN: I know I've said this a lot already, but I had fun with this chapter. Also, I'm just going to preemptively apologize for Monday.

.***.***.***.***.

Hux stepped back into his suite after a long day spent on the bridge. Kylo Ren had been off ship for five days now, and the general had enjoyed every moment of it. Besides the thermocouples, there hadn't been any significant news from Lori. She had been sending in the occasional report, but it had been nearly two weeks since they had spoken face to face.

The general wasn't one to admit it, but he did miss the conversation.

He was due back in his official office in an hour. Despite spending a full shift on the bridge, the general also spent a second full shift in his office. On paper at least. In reality it was usually one and a half shifts in each place, and only a few moments in his suite. He slept in the bed rather than on the couch, but he still didn't manage more than six hours in a daily cycle.

Checking his messages on a data pad, the general downed a handful of daily vitamins and half a mug of caf. Most of it was the standard deluge of messages about starkiller base that the general had grown to expect. More unusual was a message without a sender listed.

Expecting another unsatisfying report from Lori, he clicked it open.

"Got a lead. 0400?"

That was new. He typed out an equally curt reply.

"Yes. Remember your code cylinder."

Satisfied that enough words had been passed for them to both know that they were meeting in Hux's suite at 0400 hours, the general reconsidered his plans. He wasn't sure a single soul had ever come to visit him in his office, and he doubted that anyone would start today. Instead he opted to stay in his suite and work from there until his agent arrived.

He went about routinely attending to his other messages. It was a relief on the budget not to have to contend with Ren's outbursts, and Hux had almost managed to get out from under the backlog of problems that the force user had created. Two hours flew by, and Hux had forgotten about his half-finished drink.

As absorbed in his work as he was, he only noticed that someone had entered the suite when he caught a glance of a figure leaning against the railing that separated the kitchen from the living room.

Barely managing not to jump out of surprise, the general looked up to find Lori watching him.

"I was wondering when you'd notice." She spoke with a small grin to her words.

"I'm busy." Hux knew his excuse was lame, but spoke as if it weren't.

The brown haired woman took her time going down the stairs and into the living room, "I could tell."

Hux waited until she slid into the seat opposite of him before speaking again.

"You've got a lead?" he was quick to get to the point, knowing full well that Lori was going to take her time in answering.

"I think I do, but I need time before I can act on it."

"If you're asking me to call the FOSB off, you know I can't do that without raising suspicion." He tried to head off what he thought her request would be.

Lori was quick to respond, "Don't worry about them, I've got it handled. I think I found a way to use them to my advantage."

"And how is that?"

"There you go with your double questions again. Besides, I can't tell you all of my trade secrets or I might get replaced."

Hux wasn't sure he could find someone that fit the same role as the bounty hunter. But saying so wasn't in his character, so he settled on a different response, "I didn't realize we were still playing your game of back and forth."

Lori hadn't meant to bring it up, but she didn't see any other way to slow the conversation down. Everyone else on the ship was hopelessly easy to string along on any line she fed them. Between her roommates being as predictable as their schedules, the FOSB colonel being blind to all but the most obvious of clues, and the obviously traitorous sergeant, Lori was dying to have a conversation with some depth.

"You said it yourself, I'm difficult."

Hux settled into what had become a comfortable struggle, "Yes, you are. Ask your question."

"Very direct of you, general. Guess I should return the favor," There was nothing Lori could ask the general about her job that wouldn't give him a clue as to what she knew. But she could ask hypotheticals all day long, and if the general weren't careful he might reveal some of the secrets that Lori hadn't forgot that she was searching for, "let's pretend for a second that I ferret out every single traitor and turn coat in the First Order. What then?"

A few weeks ago Hux had his mind set on two simple options, now he was reconsidering one of them.

"I thought we already established that we would never run out of spy's to find."

She noticed that he had said we.

"Humor me."

The general thought on it for a moment before giving the least telling non-answer he could, "You're welcome to stay on retainer."

Lori found meaning in the words regardless. She had suspected he didn't have anyone to talk to before, and her time on the _Finalizer _only supported that. What she had learned from her roommates only went to show that the crew didn't know how the general had come into his many positions either.

"You mentioned a lead. What is it?" the general was quick to get back on track.

"A name. You were right to be critical of the supply office."

"Who is it?" a grim edge clung to his words, Lori knew better than to remind him of the rules.

"I need a promise from you first," she waited until the general took his moment to get over whatever offense he might take from her words.

"And what would that be?"

She had better have a good reason for stalling, the general thought. He had hired her to find his rats, and he didn't think that she was going to go back on her word now. It would be too foolish for what he knew of her.

"I give you a list of names, but you let me deal with them. I think this goes past the crew aboard the _Finalizer_"

Was she being helpful?

"Does it now?"

"If my instincts are right, and they haven't failed me yet."

The general heard something pointed at the end of Lori's comment, "Fine. I'll not immediately arrest your suspected spy ring, but I want their names."

Lori nodded with the knowledge that that was as much as she was going to get from the general. "Hank Vaylor, a sergeant in the supply office. Mina Cray, the logistics officer. Two Stormtroopers, another radar technician, and another that I haven't met yet."

Hux didn't like that the rot had spread beyond a single section of the ship. But one thing stuck out to him.

"That you haven't met yet?"

Lori may have been keeping another tidbit of information to herself.

"Well…"

"Lori, what did you do?"

Her first name caught her attention. Outside of the first time she met, she didn't think the general had ever used it.

"I may have convinced them to let me join their little group."

"You made yourself into a double agent?"

It was risky and bold. More importantly, it was more than the general had expected. He assumed that they would be catching spies one at a time and possibly torturing information out of them little by little, but having someone on the inside could prove to be far more valuable.

She pretended to think on something for a moment, "I think I'm a triple agent. The saboteur's think I'm a double agent for them so… To be fair, I'd been planning to do this from the start."

For as much trouble as Lori gave the general, he believed that.

He wasn't sure of the last time he paid someone a complement. A genuine one, without some hidden barb or callous double meaning.

"Well done."

Lori could see that the words we foreign to the general. She leaned into them.

"Thank you."

A little silence began to sprout between them. Lori was determined to keep it from growing to consume the room.

"I've been running around all day. Don't suppose I could have a drink?" she glanced at the long-cold cup of caf.

General Hux wasn't going to be quick to force his conversation partner out the door, "of course."

He was slow to stand and walk to the kitchen. Lori took a moment before following along. When he reached the entry level floor, Hux reached into one of the cupboards where he kept his liquors.

Lori didn't say anything until he set one of the bottles down.

"I was talking about a cup of caf, but I who am I to turn down something a little stronger?"

Hux left a bottle of sullustan gin on the counter while he collected a pair of glasses.

"Consider it an early celebration. A toast to progress."

It was. In the generals mind at least. Work was still suffocating, but unearthing a network of traitors was the best news he had heard in over a month. Kylo Ren being god knows how far away, doing something that might very well be the death of him also had its own uplifting charm.

Lori held a tiny reservation. As much progress as she had made at her official job, she still hadn't learned much more of the general than she had known upon arriving on the _Finalizer_. Second hand gossip from the crew was trivial at best when it came to the man, and getting him liquored up almost seemed like cheating.

Of course, it would be nice to have just one conversation where she didn't need to be on guard.

She was sure that she could hold her liquor better than the general, and she could just choose not to ask anything of him if the night went on too long.

"Cheers." She replied to him.

He poured a quarter cup of gin into one glass and topped it with ice. Just before Lori was about to ask the general what he was going to mix it with, he took a sip of the liquor.

"You're drinking sullustan gin neat?" she asked in spite of herself.

"Yes." He replied simply.

Lori had spent a lot of time in bars. From high class lounges in the core worlds, to seedy dives at the edge of the outer-rim. Not once had she seen anyone drink sullustan straight. Not unless they were on the losing end of a bet.

"Oh no, what else do you have in the cabinet?"

Without waiting too long for a response, she took it on herself to check the cupboard. It was high up to the point that she couldn't see to the back. After she couldn't reach the rearmost bottles, Hux stepped over to pull the last few spirits from the shelf.

All told, it was a decent collection. There was a second, unopened bottle of gin. Lori didn't consider it for long.

"That's all of it." Hux said from behind the bounty hunter.

"I can work with this," she said, a few cocktails already in mind.

Lori went about measuring her pours by sight, and she had to make some substitutions, but she managed to make a well balanced drink. When Lori was done she was left with a pale blue liquid in a glass.

She slid it down the counter, "It's called Thrawn's Revenge. A bit on the nose, but if your drinking sullustan straight, I think you might like it."  
The general eyed the glass. In it, he saw a chance to pry a few more stories out of the bounty hunter, "where did you learn to make drinks like that?"

Lori knew what he was doing, so she gave him an answer too specific to be of any help, "Lothal. Half the local's think it's in bad taste, the others think it's hilarious."

"You know what I meant." he said just before taking a sip.

Lori waited for the drink to take its effect before answering.

It was very sweet and surprisingly heavy in citrus, despite being blue. Hux had downed a mouthful, and if he hadn't seen it being poured he would have doubted it were alcoholic at all. Just as he was about to say as much, a harsh burn bloomed in the back of his throat. The suddenness of it made him inhale sharply, only the catch a lungful of alcohol vapors. He stifled a cough and felt a slight sting in his eyes for his trouble.

"It's the kick that gets you," Lori wasn't as self-satisfied as Hux expected her to be, but there was that maddening mischievous twinkle to her eye.  
Before the general had time to come up with a retort as harsh as the drink, Lori went on.

"I've gone under cover as a bartender so many times, I could probably make a better living doing that than I do as a bounty hunter," She offered in way of explanation.

Hux considered pushing on and asking her why she didn't but the moment had passed, and Lori had mixed together some other concoction from his collection. Her drink was brown with a slightly purple hue. Hux didn't own any purple liquors, and he wasn't sure where the color could have come from. Now knowing what to expect, Hux took a second sip of his blue drink. The burn was very similar to that of his favored gin.

"What about you?" she asked, "don't tell me you've been walking into bars and ordering sullustan gin on the rocks."

Hux never had the excuse to go drinking at a proper bar, or the time to look up cocktail recipes, as a result he had always just drank his liquor straight.

"No, of course not. I haven't the time to spare on a visit to a tavern."

Lori sat on one of the two stools by the counter and took a sip from her glass.

"Why am I not surprised?" her gaze flicked down to the glass in the generals hand, "If you like the drink, I can teach you how to make it."

Hux didn't want to take the offer. Not out of his usual sense of pride, but because it would be one less excuse he could use to invite the bounty hunter to his quarters.

"I would like that," he told her instead.

Lori heard a lie on his words, but she wasn't sure which direction it was in. Taking a sip of her drink and watching him from above the rim of her glass, she searched his features for clues. Not being able to read the man with the same clarity she found in everyone else picked at her.

She decided it was still early enough in the night for neither of them to be so drunk as to make the conversation unfair.

"So where did the liquor come from? I don't think I could see you walking through a market place."

His first drink had been stolen from his father's liquor cabinet aboard the Absolution. It had been Spiced Umbran Rum, and the general had a distaste for dark liquors ever since. He thought the detail would be harmless enough to share, but old instincts kept him from even considering telling a tale that involved his father.

"Strong drinks are common at formal banquettes. It would be rude to turn down a drink from another senior officer, and there's a certain decorum in offering one to a visitor."

Lori heard exactly how generic of an answer the general had given. It was her turn to take the direct route and point it out.

"Thanks for the etiquette lesson, but we both know that wasn't an actual answer."

Hux drained the final bit of liquid from his glass, "If I give you a straight answer, I expect one in return."

"Deal."

"I inherited some of the bottles. The rest came piecemeal, mostly as bribes."

She hadn't expected to hear that "are you telling me the most straight laced officer in all of the First Order, took a bribe?"

It was the red haired generals turn to show a thin smile, "I always accept the bribe, and then I immediately court martial whoever was stupid enough to try and bribe me."

Lori laughed, "That's dirty."

"I suppose it is. What about you?" he set his empty glass on the counter, "What's your favorite dirty trick to play on people? Besides the ones you pull on me."

She stood up and took her time to walk to the bottles. A second round was in order, "You don't want to see what happens when I start playing dirty, general."

Hux was pretty sure he did.

"I'm not sure I heard an answer in there."

Lori put together two more drinks. One of them based in a sweet fruit liquor and the other in a spicy tequila.

"Pick your poison."

Hux picked sweet over spicy, but waited on a response.

"I would say I liquor people up, but you asked for something I hadn't tried on you yet." She started with a dry attempt at a joke.

"You can try all you want."

Hux's words were a challenge, Lori would have had to be deaf not to hear it. She would have been wise to leave it alone, but no one had ever accused her of that and she wasn't about to start acting otherwise.

"Well. The dirtiest thing I ever did was shoot somebody, but I don't think it'll come to that."

The general half suspected that she had. Being a bounty hunter in a lawless galaxy brought violence with it, after all. He thought back to the scar on her left shoulder. It seemed very old, and if that was when she shot someone, then she couldn't have been old enough to understand the repercussions.

Hux almost asked about her scars.

But then she would ask about his.

And it wasn't his turn.

"How long have you been here, Hux? The First Order, I mean. Not the Finalizer."

The general was pretty sure this information was in his file. He couldn't imagine that Lori didn't already know the answer.

"All my life. Or all of it that I remember, do the first few years of life even matter? No one remembers them anyway."

Lori was listening for how the man answered the question.

"Shame that we don't." she offered.

"Oh?" the general took the bait.

"Every once in a blue moon I run into an old face. They always talk about the past like it was a better time."

The general took a long sip of his second drink, "They always do, but they never mean it."

She waited for him to go on. For a moment the general was lost in his thoughts. People bring up the past as if it was a precious time that must be remembered fondly. Even Admiral Brooks brought it up shortly before his death, reminding Hux that he had known him as a child. Before the admiral had made that comment, Hux had considered letting him live.

"They never mean it," he echoed himself, "What are you so eager to learn about it?"

And just like that the tables were turned against Lori. She should have known she was pushing just a little too far with her question.

"I just want to check some stories. I think I've been getting lied to."

"We agreed to give straight answers, Lori."

There Hux went, backing Lori into a verbal corner. She should have seen it coming, and she should have done a better job of wiggling out of it. The corners of her mouth tilted up, she tried to hide the smile with another sip of her drink.

She hated when he did that. Almost as much as she loved it.

"Sorry, Armie. Old habits die hard. Legend has it my parents used to be able to stand each other. I've always wanted to know if that was true."

Several things in that small space of sound hit Hux with the force of a turbolaser.

First, no one had ever called him by a nick name. Not once in his life had anyone considered shortening his name. His father certainly never would, it was too close to a term of affection. And he had never had someone on friendly enough terms to dare do so.

Second, he still wasn't used to apologies. As a concept, they were foreign. People either sulked away after being yelled at, or attempted to shed blame onto someone else.

Third, Lori had just given away a comment about her past. Hux desperately looked for an angle or a trap hidden in the words. He saw several, and knew that each would turn into an excuse for Lori to ask about his family.

Lori watched all the little details of her words wash over the general's features. She had been connecting dots and taking notes for the past three weeks. It was no secret to her that there was some dark cloud that stood between Hux and his father. Early on, she had guessed that he was probably a bastard son.

She still wasn't sure how all the other pieces fit together. Some deep set shame lingered around the general. Between that and the scars she had assumed that the general had failed at some assignment and was trying to gain back his father's approval. If she had read the situation right, then the older Hux died before that ever happened, and now Armitage was insecure about his position and desperate to prove that he had truly earned it, despite note believing that himself.

It was a solid theory, and she hadn't seen any obvious contradictions.

But something wasn't right.

She was missing something, she knew it. She just didn't know what it was.

"What about you?" she pushed on, "you've got a story in there."

"So I do." he took a deeper drink from his cup.

And just like that, she had pushed just a little too far.


	16. The Rumor Mill

AN: I apologized in advance, but I'll do it again. I'm sorry.

.***.***.***.***.

After their earlier questions threatened to cut too deep, Lori and Hux both pulled back. The next hour consisted of asking mostly harmless details of each other, both of them acutely aware that the smallest misstep would cause the other to shut down or flee.

Lori assumed that she could hold her liquor better than the general. What she hadn't known was that the bottle had been a habit of his for years. Both of them should have probably stopped one drink ago, but neither was willing to give the other a chance to gloat.

"Pretty sure it's my turn."

It was indeed Lori's turn to ask a question.

"Is it? I thought you just asked."

She was almost drunk, but not enough to let Hux have an edge, "Even if it wasn't it is now."

The general realized what he had did a moment too late, "Fine. Go."

"Favorite color."

Hux thought about it, only to be interrupted.

"Please don't say red."

"I wasn't going to," He had never given it much thought. Looking around the room, the only thing to focus on was the bounty hunter.

He had an idea.

"Blue." He settled on.

"That so?" Lori knew he was going somewhere, but wasn't sure where exactly.

"Ah-ah. My turn."

She took another sip of her drink and waved the general on.

Hux quickly forgot what he had intended to do with the color question. Instead he was left with his gaze still left on Lori.

"Do you intentionally keep messing up your collar?"

Lori looked down, forgetting that her collar was too high to see.

Huffing with mock annoyance, the general leaned forward to try and straighten the fabric as he had twice before. The distance between their chairs was slightly larger than Hux had thought, and he ended up having to stand and take a step forward to close it.

He was left towering above the sitting bounty hunter. She thought then angle was off, and stood so that Hux had an easier time reaching her neck.

A long moment passed while Hux adjusted Lori's collar. He wasn't sober, but he wasn't drunk enough for a simple cloth adjustment to be taking this long. While the two of them stood face to face Lori was left breathing the light scent of the general's cologne. It had faded after a long day, but it still reminded her of a green planet after a heavy rain.

When Hux was finally done, neither of the two moved.

"Hey, Armie." Lori began.

The sound of his name shortened made Hux sway.

"It's my turn to ask a question." She told him.

"Is it?"

Lori had a bad idea. She was drunk enough to act on it, and sober enough to know she could blame it on being drunk.

"What would you do," she began, taking a small step towards the general, "if I kissed you?"

Hux did not move.

"I don't know."

A hundred different thoughts swirled through the man's head. The bounty hunter had been infuriatingly coquettish, to the point where Hux was half sure he was imagining it. He had thought a few private thoughts about the woman, but he didn't think he would ever be confronted with them.

For a man that was obsessed with order, and who always had a plan or a goal, not knowing what would happen when he got one of the things he wanted drove him mad.

Lori watched the general not know what to do. She knew she had an effect on him, she just wasn't sure he was aware that he did something similar to her. Before the moment faded any more than it did, she leaned in with her chin tiled up.

His lips were as soft as they looked.

She would have liked to savor the moment, but the general hadn't even flinched when she moved in. Worried that she had gone too far too quickly, Lori drifted back away.

Suddenly out from under the stupor he had put himself in, Hux looked down at Lori. Before the moment was gone completely, he quickly leaned down after her. The bounty hunter stopped and let him catch up.

They came into contact again, this time both leaning deeply into the kiss. Hux slowly wrapped his long arms around Lori's waist, pulling her tighter. She threaded her arms over his shoulders, pulling herself up and him down to meet her even more closely.

The kiss was warm and deep, and both would have been happy to have it last forever. Lori didn't notice when Hux put his thin hand against her back and pushed her chest closer to his. Hux had no idea when Lori had started running her fingers through his hair and stoking the back of his neck.

Unfortunately, the moment couldn't last forever and they had to separate to catch their breath.

For a moment they only stood there, locked in each other's arms. Both of them tried to stifle their gasps for breath, looking into the others eyes as a distraction. Lori hadn't planned on what to do afterwards, and the Hux never thought he would get this far.

He opened his mouth to say something, found that he couldn't settle on the right words, and then shut his mouth.

She blinked a few times, trying to think of something clever to say. When nothing felt right she remained silent.

The seconds stretched on until neither of them knew how long they had been standing. It felt like they had only just latched onto each other, and as if they had been there forever.

"I… I think it's my turn." Hux barely recovered first.

"Yeah. Suppose it is." Lori didn't move away as she responded.

Another long silence stretched between them. Eventually their holds loosened, and they were left to step away from each other. Their drinks long forgotten, neither of the two used them as a convenient distraction.

With a fragile space set back between them, Hux asked his question.

"Will you be careful?"

He wasn't sure how to open up, or to talk on a personal level. He had absolutely no idea how to show concern for another. Hux wasn't even sure he recognized the feeling.

Lori had never let someone close. Not really, and especially not physically. In her experience personal connections were only convenient strings to tug on, and they were most useful for tying someone in place.

The general's question could have been personal, she wanted it to be. But the fear of going too far too fast crept into the bounty hunter.

"As careful as I ever am."

Hux felt the conversation falling back to business. He didn't know how to move it back to the personal place they had just been.

"Good," he said weakly before taking a breath and trying his best to stand straight, "It would be a shame if the rebels caught you."

She would rather be caught by someone else.

"Don't worry about them," she leaned against the bar, "if my cover gets blown, I won't have any more excuses to hang around here, and we can't have that."

The general heard the invitation in her words, but wasn't sure how far it extended, "you're right. That would be a shame."

It was Lori's turn to ask something of the general, but between the liquor and the thousand directions her thoughts were flying in, she couldn't find the next lead to follow or string to pull at. She looked at the chrono, it was late and the only winning move she could imagine was not to play.

"Armie?"

Hux still wasn't sure what he thought of having his name shortened. It was small and Lori said it with such a soft voice that Hux would have thought it a trap or a slight from anyone else.

"What is it?"

"We should do this again some time."

He stalled for a moment. Old instincts to be more guarded when he only wanted to open up, flared within him.

Eventually, he gave the most affirmative answer he could manage.

"I think we should."

With that, Lori took her cue to take a step to the door. She was just about to leave without another word when the general spoke.

"Goodnight, captain Gallus" he put just a little bit of distance between them by using her rank. He wasn't sure he wanted it there.

Lori heard it, and knew that now was the time to play along.

"Goodnight, general Hux."

The door to the general's suite slid shut behind her. Suddenly feeling further away and more alone than she had in all her years, Lori quickly stepped down the hall. It was nearly the end of first shift, in twenty minutes the halls would swarm with people leaving their homes and going to work, or vice versa.

In the nearly two weeks aboard the star destroyer, Lori had only mostly lost her habit of getting lost. As abuzz with questions and insecurities and the weight of her drinks as her mind was, it was no small miracle that she made it back home without taking a wrong turn.

She stepped into the living room, still deep in thought about her encounter with Hux.

As distracted as she was, Lori didn't notice that Vanya was sitting in the couch until the lieutenant had turned around and begun speaking to her.

"Woah, you look you've had a long night out."

Lori was about to make a hasty denial until she remembered she needed to shed her wild space accent.

"What gi- I… I'm going to bed."

Vanya had always been the one for gossip. More than once Lori had used it to her advantage, but now she was on the receiving end of it. Four drinks in and focused on more important things, she wasn't in the right head space to deflect suspicion or control the conversation like she usually was.

"It's 0700, aren't you usually in bed?" Vanya asked as she stood from the couch.

As she came closer to she caught the unmistakable scent of liquor on the captain's breath. On a normal day captain Gallus was dressed impeccably, but as Vanya came closer she could see a few small flaws in her uniform.

The code cylinders in Lori's breast pocket were turned in random directions, her collar was off-center. What was normally a tightly tied back bun had gone loose and slightly frayed. The fabric of Lori's tunic was wrinkled along her sides.

Vanya took her suspicions and ran with them.

"Oh my god, you were out with someone." She had been looking for something –anything- to talk about when it came to the captain, but she had been the most boring, uninteresting, try hard junior officer Vanya had ever met.

The thought that she might be seeing someone had never crossed the lieutenant's mind.

At that Lori knew that running off and hiding in her room would only invite wild guesses. If those started, she would kiss any privacy she got in her suite goodbye.

More importantly, she couldn't leave rumors to run amok. If she did, it was only a matter of time before one of them blew up and made her job impossible. Trying every trick she could think of to sober up as quickly as possible, Lori went to the kitchen.

"You were, weren't you? Who was it? Where did you go? What did you do? You didn't…"

"Vanya." Lori said the other woman's name in warning.

She knew exactly where the lieutenant was going with her final question, and Lori wasn't ready to think about it.

"Well?" the younger woman was leaning against their counter top.

Lori riffled through the refrigerator. There was a loaf of day old bread in the back. She wasn't sure who had brought it home, but she took it for herself. The caf maker got clicked on next. The hot dark liquid had only just started pouring into the pot below when Vanya tried fishing for more information.

"Was it another officer? Ah! Don't tell me you've been seeing a Stormtrooper."

"No, of course not." Lori gave a simple blanket denial before taking a bite of the bread.

The bounty hunter looked for some way to turn the conversation around or deflect Vanya's interest. She made an obvious and clumsy attempt.

"Are you?" Lori looked with mock worry at the lieutenant.

"Hah, wouldn't you like to know," Vanya walked around the counter, only to take a seat on the stools, "and don't go changing the subject. We're talking about you."

Lori poured a cup of caf and downed another mouthful of bread.

"Fine." She spoke from behind the rim of a mug, "it was another officer. But we're not dating."

"A hook up? I didn't think you were that kind of lady, captain Gallus. Who was it, do I know him," a mischievous grin grew over Vanya's face, "or her?"

Lori was trying to figure out how much she had to tell Vanya to get her off her back, and how much she could say without giving too much away.

"Ya'll've prolly never talked."

"Wow, you're hammered."

Lori realized that she was letting her accent slip, and quickly made to correct it, "Drunk people slur their words, imagine that."

"I know, I know. But really though, who? Oh who am I kidding, you're not going to tell. At least tell me if they were higher or lower ranking."

Knowing that she would take too long to come up with something that would help more than hurt, Lori took a deep drink from her mug.

Vanya made up her own meaning, "going higher up the chain, look at you!"

Just enough good sense was coming back to Lori for her to see an opening, "well keep it on the down low, because nothing is official."

"So this is going to be a repeat affair," the lieutenant told more than asked.

"Maybe."

Lori would have been lying to herself if she weren't interested in the possibility. But even saying it out loud made it too real. Too close to being something that she had to loose.

.***.***.***.***.

Not a second after the door slid shut behind Lori did Hux regret letting her leave. A few bottles sat scattered around his kitchen counter, he didn't mind them when he slumped down on the bar stool.

The clock read a quarter until 0700. He wasn't due on the bridge until 1200 and any thought of going to his office now was laughable.

A mess of emotions that he had never felt and didn't care to name grated at him. He tried in vain to shake them away.

He knew better than to treat a hired hand like he might a friend. Expecting anyone to treat him with kindness was a fool's errand, and he berated himself for thinking otherwise. He wanted to sit up and steady himself with the conviction to treat the bounty hunter as a purely business associate.

But.

He could still feel her in his arms.

Laying his head down on the counter, he tried to convince himself that he was still trying to learn about Lori simply because she was trying to do the same to him. He tried to tell himself that he was going to beat her at her own game.

He tried to ignore the part of him that genuinely wanted to know more.


	17. No Offence

AN: Thanks for sticking around after last chapter, also thanks for reading. Extra thanks to the handful of y'all that comment.

.***.***.***.***.

Four days had passed, and Vanya hadn't mentioned Lori's late night out.

Not to Lori at least, but she was pretty sure the others knew. Every once and a while she would catch one of them glancing at her, or having a hushed conversation that would end the second she stepped into the room.

It was mostly Vanya and Quin. Sydney was far too no non-sense to get caught up in gossip about her roommates love life.

No one in the office had said anything. Lori was pretty sure none of them ran in the same social circles as the lieutenants.

After the third day, Lori half thought that she might be have gotten away with her miss-step all together. She still hadn't talked to Hux about it, and she didn't plan on telling him that her roommates were even a little bit suspicious of her. She had sent in a report on her other activities, mostly updating an elaborating on what she had already told him. He replied in a perfectly professional way that Lori had dreaded reading.

Normally, she could read anyone she wanted whenever she wanted to, but she was wrong about the general. Some detail had escaped her that she knew would be the secret to unraveling the rest of him. She hadn't been trying to fish for information when she kissed him, but now she worried that the general had taken it that way.

Clinging to her own thoughts and worries, Lori only answered in nods and gestures when one of the servers along the lunch line asked her a question. When she finally did have a full meal on her tray she walked to an empty table in a haze.

She didn't have long to wallow in her stupor before captain Cray sat next to her.

The logistics officer served as the de facto head of the group of rebels that had slid their way into the First Orders ranks. Mina Cray was an unassuming captain with a respectable working record. Second daughter of a family with a history in the empire, no one would ever suspect she would have anti-First Order leanings.

"Good afternoon, captain Gallus." She spoke with the almost core-world accent that many of the legacy officers had inherited from their parents

"Afternoon, captain Cray." Lori was quick to push her bit of melancholy away and resume her overly-helpful officer act.

"Are you free at 2000?"

The lack of any other details told Lori that this had something to do with the conspiracy.

"Yes ma'am."

They were of an equal rank and position, so there was no real reason for the tacked on formality, but Lori was still a very junior member in the conspiracy.

"Brilliant. My office."

Lori nodded in acknowledgment and went on eating her lunch as if nothing had happened. More people came and went, a few of them sitting nearby.

Looking for anything to think of besides the other night, Lori took mental note of what she had learned.

Cray was at the head of the ring, with sergeant Vaylor acting as a second in command. The two stormtoopers didn't actually know that they were in on a grand conspiracy, and thought that they were only just trying to murder the general. The radar technicians name was Jenu and he had apparently been smuggled in just over a month ago from some planet in the expansion region.

Vaylor thought that Lori was in the clear, as did Jenu. It was Cray that had been the most cautious about a new face, and the fact that she had been the one to approach her in the lunch room set off an alarm in Lori's mind.

Two days ago had been her first trial. She slipped a data file into a shipment bound for the _Absolution_. She didn't know what was on the file, and she had told Hux about it in her report. He had it intercepted. As far as the conspiracy was concerned, their data file was found during random inspections by someone in the security office.

As far as Lori could tell, they were searching for an accomplice somewhere up the chain of command. She would have loved to see what was on the data file, and she especially wanted to know who aboard the _Absolution_ was meant to receive it.

She finished her lunch without another word and went back to her room. She debated on whether or not she should update Hux yet. Half way to her suite, she decided that she could manage the meeting just fine, and that she would put a report together afterwards.

Walking through her living room and to her private bedroom, Lori had just enough time to get a night's sleep before her clandestine rendezvous.

.***.***.***.***.

The general stepped into his official office. Over a week without Kylo Ren aboard had left him with time enough to actually be productive. Finally out from under the back log of work that had built up offer the last month, the general booted up the computer and checked his inbox for new messages.

There was a pang of disappointment when he didn't find anything from his agent.

He didn't let himself hold onto it for long. Normally he would have been ecstatic to have a moment to himself, but as it was he wished that he had a mound of work to distract him.

Lori's last report lead to his confiscating of a data file. He'd looked through it that same day, and it only added to the number of things that Hux would rather not think about. How the traitors had unearthed that particular bit of information, he had no idea.

The general leaned back in his chair, half reading a holonews feed that scrolled across the screen.

As much as he was ready to put a blaster bolt through the head of his traitors, the general needed to know their source. More importantly, he needed to learn what they intended to do with the information.

Against his better judgment, he leaned back over his desk.

Hux knew that if Lori learned what was in the data file, she would never look at him the same again. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter, but even just making a request for specific information felt like telling her too much.

His message was as short as he thought he could get away with:

"Concerning the data file: What was the source? Who was the recipient?"

His hand hovered over the send button.

Hoping the answers wouldn't give too much away, he pressed it.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori woke up to a dark room. The only thing to cut through the gloom was a softly blinking green light from her data pad. Fumbling for a second, she squinted her eyes against the suddenness of the bright screen.

A message with no sender: "Concerning the data file: What was the source? Who was the recipient?"

She deleted the message and checked the time. There was still hour to spare before her meeting with Cray. Lori took her time leaving her warm bed. Getting dressed didn't take long, she ran through the motions and made her final check in the mirror.

From unkempt and half asleep to perfectly uniformed only took ten minutes.

No one was in the living room. Vanya's shift lasted until 0000. Quin and Sydney both worked second shift, so they were asleep.

Lori poured herself a mug of caf. The message picked at Lori. Hux didn't know she was about to walk into a meeting, he didn't have anyone looking into the case besides her, she was sure of it. She was also sure that she had completely evaded the FOSB.

It wasn't like him to tell her how to do her job. The man wasn't quick to trust people with personal issues, but he allowed his men more autonomy that she would have expected.

She took it as a sign that it was something personal.

She tried to keep herself from looking too deeply into it.

She didn't do a very good job of it.

Leaving her suite with a hot cup of caf in one hand, Lori made her way to captain Crays office. The walk was a long one, and it ate up most of the time Lori had remaining. On her way there she fully committed herself to learning what exactly had been on the data file.

A unit of storm troopers walked along one side of the hall. Lori wondered if any of them were sympathetic to the conspiracy.

The captain's door was locked when she came to it. Lori gave a simple knock, the small whir of a camera came from over one of her shoulders before the door slid open.

Inside the room was the captain, as expected. Sergent Vaylor was there as well, along with the previously unknown member that she had only been somewhat aware of.

Another enlisted man, a pilot by his uniform. She wondered if he had been piloting the shuttle when it got searched.

Waiting for them to begin, Lori nodded at each of them as she entered the room.

"Captain Gallus," Cray spoke first, "I don't think you've met Wilt yet."

"Haven't had the pleasure." She looked at the pilot. Medium build with light colored hair, she could have seen him a thousand times in the hall and not remembered one of them.

He nodded back. A fragile silence settled over the room. Lori hadn't been expecting anyone besides the captain. She searched her co-conspirators faces for a hint about their plans. She didn't like the guarded expression she saw on Cray. A thin layer of shame had draped itself over Vaylor.

Lori kept in character, "I didn't realize it would be more than just me and you here, captain Cray. Do we need extra chairs?"

"That won't be necessary." Wilt the pilot spoke first.

"Oh, okay."

Cray stood on the opposite side of her desk, the two men were only a few feet away from Lori, one on each side. She had her back to the door, but she took some solace in the fact that no one stood between it and her.

The sergeant spoke first, "I'm sorry about this, ca-"

"Vaylor! Not now. Sit down Gallus." Cray cut him off.

Lori used a look of confusion to hide her suspicions. She was outmatched and trapped, there was no way she could fight her way out. Never mind that she was unarmed and smaller than Vaylor and Wilt, she had never been good at hand to hand combat in the first place.

Still acting the well-to-do captain, she did as Cray ordered.

A second after she sat in the chair opposite Cray the conversation began.

"Our data chip was intercepted." It was a statement rather than the accusation that Lori had expected.

She wasn't sure if that meant the captain's mind had already been made up, or if that meant she was more free from suspicions that she had assumed.

"What? When? How?" Lori responded with just enough worried shock to sell the act that she had no part in it.

"I don't know," the pilot spoke up, "but for whatever reason they were only checking flights bound to the _Absolution_."

"Wait, really?" Lori wasn't sure where they were going with this one, but she felt the tension in the room lessening.

"Don't act surprised, captain." Cray brought the conversation back under her control, "Now, unless I've gone blind, we're running an air tight operation here aboard the _Finalizer._ It seems that our contemporaries on the _Absolution_, however…"

Lori only took a second to realize a few key things. She wasn't under suspicion at all, they had completely bought her story and persona. Part of her story being, of course, that she had just transferred from the _Absolution_.

They were looking for their leak, but they mistakenly thought it was coming from the _Absolution_.

"Captain Cardinal does run a tight ship. I didn't know we were there. I mean… Captain Cardinal is one of the good ones."

He was well liked among the lower ranks of the first Order. It would only make sense for the character Lori had created to be a fan of the man. Or at the very least, less likely to speak ill of him.

"Which is why we need to get that data file to him!" Vaylor spoke out of term again.

"What?" Lori didn't have to fake surprise this time.

"Sargent, you're out of line!" Cray was more upset than Lori had ever seen her.

"Sorry captain, but we got our backs against the wall on this one. We've been tap dancing around for months and have nothing but a dead friend to show for it. We need a big get, or I don't even know why the hell we're still here."

"Matthias knew what he was risking." Cray regained some composure. Lori was more than happy to let the two go one.

"Did he? Did he really? You kept him in the dark and left him for dead!"

"Hey now," Wilt put up his hands, trying to calm to other two.

Seeing that they were about to regain their composure, Lori took her chance to knock them back off center.

"What's going on? What about Captain Cardinal? Is he working with us?"

"Not yet." Cray answered through gritted teeth.

Vaylor grumbled under his breath, "not ever, at this rate."

Wilt caught the comment, "Hank, don't be a dick."

"Captain Cardinal has more principles than the average commanding officer." Cray talked on, purposefully ignoring Vaylor, "our agents on the _Absolution_ are looking for their leak, but in the mean time we need to get our intel to them. The captain won't believe us unless we can show him the reports."

Lori make a risky move, "what does it say?"

"That's none of your concern Gallus." Cray was quick to stop the attempt

Unsurprised but still disappointed, Lori couldn't help but notice that Vaylor didn't agree with the secrecy.

Wilt spoke, "We can't transfer the file electronically, the First Orders data filter will catch it the moment we try. You were aboard the _Absolution_, is there any back door we could use?"

"Maybe…" she pretended to think about it. In reality she was trying to figure out if she could get her hands on their master copy and then destroy it –after reading it herself.

"We need to figure something out, quick," Wilt urged her on, "we don't have a real dead line, but life would be better if we got this to Cardinal by the end of the week."

Lori noted the date and told herself to look for anything important in once weeks' time.

"Ok. I'll figure something out," she settled on a conflicted agreement.

A small thankful nod came from the pilot. Cray only just kept herself from staring daggers at the sergeant, and he didn't even try to hide his displeasure with the captain.

Lori kept her expression blank.

She could work with this.


	18. A Friend in Need

AN: A few things:

1) I _might_ change the rating to M because of Mondays chapter, so if you can't find the story make sure to check your filters. I'm a coward who can't right smut, so it's not that. I will be getting into some heavy talk about Hux's childhood and I haven't decided how detailed its going to be so i might bump the rating for themes/violence.

2) Looking at the comments, I'm glad to see that I've got some of ya'll invested. Feedback helps and I'm always curious to know how readers think a story is going

3) I hate to leave y'all with a sort of cliff hanger on a Friday but, welp, here you go. (P.S. Thanks for reading & sorry for the long AN)

.***.***.***.***.

Two days had passed since her meeting with the rest of the conspiracy, and Lori hadn't gotten any of them to let her see the report. She had got the answer to both the questions Hux asked of her, at least.

A dedicated group of rebels calling themselves the Resistance had grown out of a few true believers in the New Republic. Lori wasn't quite sure what they thought they were resisting, the First Order hadn't actually ventured into New Republic territory. Not yet, at least.

Lori wasn't exactly sure when or how the report had leaked, but apparently a big time Resistance agent had gotten her hands on it and then alerted the cell hidden on the _Finalizer_. How they got their hands on a physical copy, and why Hux was so concerned over it, she still wasn't sure.

The fact that the information was still bound for Captain Cardinal was another odd detail. It was no secret that he and the general butted heads, but the captain had been a lifelong member of the First Order. Recruited right off Jekku at the fall of the Empire, if the records were correct.

More importantly, she knew the plan for the next attempt at moving the data chip. The idea was for her to nominate Vaylor for a transfer to the _Absolution_, so that he could physically carry the report with him, and then hand deliver it to the agents they had there. Lori had protested slightly, with the reason that Vaylor getting caught would bring her down as well. She let herself be talked into it with just enough worry to make her co-conspirators thank her for taking a risk for the cause.

Now Lori was sitting at her desk, drafting a summary of what she had learned for Hux.

When she heard approaching footsteps, she quickly closed her notes and opened a series of supply request forms instead. The information was long gone by the time she looked up. When she did, she found sergeant Vaylor.

"Captain Gallus, do you have a minute?"

She looked up and down the supply area, none of the other workers were in.

"Of course," she gestured at a seat to on the opposite side of the table.

Vaylor was quick to sit, "long story, but I need you to just listen for a minute. Ok?"

The look on the man's face told her that this visit concerned the conspiracy. She nodded wordlessly for him to go on.

"Look, I think it's bantha shit that Cray hasn't filled you in on all the details, but you didn't get this from me? We clear?"

"What is it?"

Lori would have been suspicious if anyone else tried offering information like this. But, for as much of a true believer that Hank was, he hated the captain's leadership style. More than once he had complained about her keeping secrets, and it sounded to Lori like that philosophy was about to be his undoing.

The sergeant slid a data coin across the desk.

"That's a copy of the report. They've been doubling security between here and the _Absolution_ and I don't like my odds."

She almost hadn't recovered enough from her surprise to keep up the concerned friend act.

"Hank, you shouldn't be-"

"I know. I know I shouldn't worry, but I'll sleep better knowing we got more backup copies. Keep it safe for me."

Lori let some of the genuine shock she had over the situation bleed into her features. The sergeant took a different meaning from it.

"I will."

Vaylor smiled and nodded slightly, "Thanks. When it comes in handy, do me a favor and tell Cray I told her so."

She quickly tucked the coin into an interior pocket and well out of view, "I'd be glad to."

The sergeant stood from his seat just as some footsteps grew from down the hall. Without another word, he was back at work like nothing had ever happened.

Lori finished drafting her report. For a moment she considered the weight of the coin in her pocket.

Then she decided that it didn't need mentioning.

Her shift was over in three hours. The transfer was in four. That was just enough time for the general to put an interception together.

Worried that this might be the end of her work for a while, and eager to see what was on the report, Lori hit send.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux was in his office when a message appeared in his inbox.

Still listed without a sender, he knew who it was from.

This one had more information than they usually did. The data hadn't been leaked, rather it had been stolen from the outside. It was bound for Captain Cardinal.

He would have his chance to capture the original data disk at 1900 in hangar bay seven. He would find it taped to the stomach of sergeant Hank Vaylor.

Hux shuddered to think what Cardinal would do if he were to ever learn what was on that report, but he quickly suppressed it with the knowledge that he need not worry. Vaylor worked directly under Lori. Hux wasn't sure if signaling the man out would put suspicion on his double agent, but he was sure she would be clever enough to find a way out from under scrutiny the traitors put on her.

The names of last remaining members of the conspiracy that remained aboard the _Finalizer_ were also attached to the message.

He had to hand it to her, she had done a better job than he could have expected.

A little pang of worry twisted at the general. With the conspiracy unearthed and soon to be done away with, he wouldn't have a reason to keep Lori around. Not until the next crop of renegades appeared, he told himself. The two of them had talked about it earlier, they would never truly be free of traitors and turn coats.

It was only wise for him to keep her close at hand.

Or at least, that's what Hux told himself.

Being cruel to a petty degree always made the general feel like he had a little more control over the world than he really did. Giving in to himself, Hux decided to schedule a hanger walk through at the time of the transfer.

He would be the one to do the final personnel inspection.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori didn't rush out of her office when her shift was over. She never did, and there was no reason for her to let anyone think this day was any special. Taking the same winding route at the same leisurely pace as always, she went to her suite. Like most days she passed Sydney in the hall, they exchanged polite nods but never stopped to chat.

When she stepped into the suite, it was empty. Vanya was home, but asleep as she usually was this time of day.

Leaving the still too exposed living room behind, Lori went to her room and locked the door behind her. Nervous, despite knowing that no one was watching, she popped the data disk into the reader of her data pad.

A few seconds that seemed to last years passed before the file could be accessed. Lori clicked over it, curiosity swelling at the title alone.

It read, 'Concerning the Death of Brendol Hux'.


	19. Games

AN: I'm on the fence about changing the rating. I don't think that this chapter is _that_ rough, and I'm essentially thinking in terms of whether or not the average teenage internet user would be deeply shaken by it. If you disagree and think I should bump the rating, leave a comment about why and I'll think about it. That being said, I realize everyone's a little different, so:

Trigger Warning: description of child abuse, starts at the .***.***.***.***. goes until end of chapter.

.***.

General Hux returned to his quarters an hour after Hank had been thrown into the brig. He would have poured himself a celebratory drink, but the victory felt hollow without someone to share it with. Annoyed with himself that he even thought to be sad in a moment of victory, Hux picked up his data pad.

It was blinking as a signal that he had a message waiting for him.

To his surprise it was from Lori, she had never sent two in one day. Wondering what it could be, he read through the short thing.

"Important. I'll be there at 1430."

He checked the time, there were only ten minutes between then and now.

A quick pang of worry nipped at the general. Had she been found out? Even worse, had she changed her mind and given in to their rhetoric? Was his double agent a double agent for the other side now?

Telling himself that he was being foolish and jumping to conclusions, the general took a seat at the kitchen counter. There was nothing to indicate trouble in her message, but something about it felt wrong.

He didn't have long to worry over it before his front door slid open and then shut to allow the bounty hunter inside. Hux sat facing the door, but he was left no time to speak a greeting before Lori was standing at the opposite end of the bar from him.

There was something he couldn't place on her features. Grim and heavy with questions that he didn't think he could deny answering.

"What was so important?" he began.

When Lori opted to look at him instead of giving some witty reply about the lack of greeting, the general grew uneasy in his chair. Just as the silence reached it apex, Lori dug through her pocket and placed a data chip on the counter.

Hux considered it for a moment.

He didn't have to ask to know what was on it.

"So, you read the report?" he spoke quietly.

"I did." Lori didn't look away from the general, judgment heavy in her eyes.

The general wasn't one to shy away from a challenge. No matter how much he would have liked to. Knowing that there was no way to deflect, or run, or talk the bounty hunter away from the decisions she had already made about him, Hux looked her in the eyes.

He hoped that she hadn't read the damnable thing and then decided to join in with the Resistance. He hoped that she would give him the benefit of the doubt, but he didn't let himself hope too much. He couldn't tell her or anyone else the things he had suffered at his father's hands. Painful experience told him to do so was to open himself to agony at the whim of others.

Lori knew better than to think the general had never gotten is hands dirty, but this. This was something that hit too close to home.

She had found in the general someone who reminded her of herself, and for a long while it had made for an intriguing game. But now, with this new revelation, it brought some of the own dark parts of her reality too close to the surface. To look into a person and see the darkest part of herself was like a thousand volts through the soul.

Lori didn't look away from the general. In him, she saw many things looking back at her.

She wasn't sure if she understood any of them anymore.

"Didn't take you for a cold blooded murderer."

"I know what I did. I don't have to explain myself."

The bounty hunter had been searching for how the murder of Hux's father fit into her theory about the man.

"It'd be a lot better for you if you did."

"Would it really now?" Hux often relied on lashing out as the best form of emotional self-defense. When he was truly backed into a corner or saw the worlds crumbling around him, he went back to old habits, "would it really be better if I were to sit here and lay bare every dark thing I've had to do to get where I am? What about you? You told me you shot a man."

He hit a trigger that Lori didn't know she had, "That was different!"

"I'm sure it was. Unlike you, I don't kill for a few measly credits."

"You don't know a damn thing, it wasn't like that." She didn't have it in her to confront the murder of her own father.

"Of course it wasn't. We live different lives, and unlike you I never had the luxury of running from my problems."

His last comment cut deep. Lori had been running for all of her life, and she wasn't sure when the general had picked up on it.

"What I do to people that try and kill me is my own business," She spat back at the man.

"On that, we agree."

And just like that the last piece of the puzzle slid into place.

She felt blind for not putting the pieces together sooner. Avoiding his father's things, being more angry and guarded back on his father's ship. Not even trying to hide his distain with Captain Cardinal, who had been an admirer of Brendol Hux.

The deep scars along the generals back.

She felt like an idiot for not recognizing them as the markings of a childhood from hell. She felt like a true fool for not linking them to her own. The signs had been obvious, right down to the pain killers divided into child sized doses on the _Absolution_.

Hux watched something shift deep in the bounty hunters eyes. He steadied himself for whatever new insult he thought she might launch at him. He would only strike out more harshly for every barb she threw his way. He knew he was ruining the closest relationship he had ever had, and the agony of it only made him lash out harder.

"Did he suffer?" Lori asked

The cold, cruel, and petty side of the general did the talking.

"Immensely. Parnassos beetle venom rotted him from the inside out. It took months, and he suffered every second of it."

The general searched the bounty hunter for signs of disgust. For loathing or abhorrence, for any telltale hint that she though him the cruel monster that everyone else assumed of him. He looked at the narrow chinned and round cheeked woman he had shared a tender moment with, and he was angry at the whole of the galaxy that revelations about his past would be the thing to take away one of his hopes for the future.

Lori looked down at Hux. She looked into his watery green eyes and saw a hundred variations of rage and anger and hurt and fear.

And she recognized them.

They were the little things that she kept locked away tight. The little things that she told herself were no use, so she decided not to feel them anymore.

The general talked of venom and a slow death. Lori remembered flames and how the screaming didn't last long enough.

She had a single word for the general.

"Good."

And just like that, Hux didn't know what to do.

He didn't know what to say.

He didn't know what to think.

Being hateful and pushing people away had been a lifelong talent of his, and Hux didn't know what to do when Lori didn't respond in kind. So caught up in the moment and ready to throw away the relationship he didn't know he had, the general had no idea how to react. He didn't know how to be understood.

"No," he couldn't look away from the bounty hunter, "No, you don't mean that. Don't play your games with me! I won't be talked into whatever clever little trap you've laid!"

But there was no trap. Hux knew as much.

Lori didn't sit, and she didn't move. She considered her options and decided that Hux was right, that now wasn't the time for games.

"Sorry Armie, but I do mean it. I thought I had you figured out, but I was wrong."

Hearing his shortened name put Hux on guard, only for the bounty hunters next words to make him worried. As much as he wanted to be unaffected, he found himself wondering what the woman would say next.

"I was wrong. Brendol deserved it, and you were right."

He wasn't sure that he believed she had gone from calling him a murderer to supposedly supporting the decision in only a minute. He didn't know how to be agreed with or, if it went far enough, comforted. The very idea of it left him with feelings that he didn't know how to confront.

"That's enough of that. I said I'd not have any more of your games."

Hux meant to be issuing an order or a final warning, but his voice came out hoarse and pained. Lori heard it, and recognized her own fears within it.

She pulled the other bar stool slightly closer and took a seat.

Lori hadn't talked about her own experiences, not to anyone in the whole galaxy. For as quick and clever with a comment as she was in every other way, she didn't know how to tell her story.

So she decided to be blunt.

"I shot my father and left him to die in a burning house."

"What?"

This conversation had gone in several directions that Hux couldn't have imagined even ten minutes ago.

Lori stalled for a moment. Hux almost said more in the silence. Instead, he wondered what was so different between them that the bounty hunter thought her actions were justified, but that his hadn't been. He wondered what she had thought of that brought the sudden change of heart.

He wondered what Lori's father had done that brought her to murder him.

A short list of ideas came to him.

"The mark on your shoulder is a burn. Isn't it?" he thought back to the spider web like marks that hadn't been fully revealed that night on the _Absolution_.

Lori looked at Hux, "down to the elbow. If I'm not mistaken, a whip did that to your back."

She wasn't.

The two of them sat without a word for a long moment. Lori wondered if there was anything else she could say to make the moment better. She felt like a menace for coming here with an accusation. Especially for something that she had done. She'd been so focused on finding the general out, that she chose to ignore the things that brought her too close to seeing herself.

Now that she was confronted with a person that was just as broken and afraid as she was, she didn't know what to do. She wanted to help, to find the single thread she had to pull to unravel this whole mess.

But people didn't work like that.

Especially not people like them.

"When?" Hux spoke first, "When did you do it?"

She wasn't in the mood to be clever now,

"I was fourteen. You?"

He leaned back, so that his back rested against the counter, "Five years ago."

A short laugh that only existed to hide the pain came out under Lori's words, "You're more patient than I am."

The general looked to her, "I know."

She gave him a halfhearted scowl.

"So. Fire. Did you plan it?"

Lori wasn't sure if she could say. Not because she was afraid of running the general off, not anymore. They were discussing the murders of their respective fathers, she wasn't sure she could make herself seem any better or worse. Lori wasn't sure she could say, because she wasn't sure of the answer.

When the past is a dark place, the shadows begin to bleed together until it all becomes a blur. It becomes a miserable weight that has to be bared until the day you die. Lori chose to bear the past by ignoring it, by locking it away and looking in any other direction for a distraction.

"I don't know," she answered as honestly as she knew how, "probably. I don't regret it. What about you?"

Hux still wasn't sure if he believed that he was having this conversation. He answered in spite of it.

"Do I regret it? Not for a second. Did I plan it? Yes and no. I dreamt of it for years, but the Parnassos beetle was a weapon of opportunity."

He was still trying to see if there was anything he could say to scare the woman away. Years of being guarded couldn't be pushed away by a second of honesty, even if he wanted them to be.

"What did he do?" the general pushed on, afraid to let the bounty hunter closer but even more afraid to push her away.

"I don't want your pity." Lori said to the floor.

Hux wasn't sure if he was capable of pity.

"What about understanding?"

With that, Lori looked back at the general. The edges of her eyes were tinged red and glossy, but she had too much pride to let a tear fall. She forced the little breach of emotion back into the pit where she kept the rest of it.

"That would be nice."

.***.***.***.***.

We didn't talk much. Dad never drank, but he had enough of a temper that people thought he did.

It was mostly beatings. Mostly.

More often than not I'd keep out of the house and wonder around the low mountains, dad kept himself busy hustling card games or moving cargo at the landing bays. I only showed back up at sunset, half the time I went in through the window.

The half the time I didn't come in the window, I didn't come in at all. He'd lock the house up tight and I fended for myself. We lived past the outskirts of town and the predators came out to hunt at night.

Can't even count how many times I almost ended up as lunch for something a lot bigger and scarier than me. Of course, my being the hunted didn't make dad very happy.

One time I hid under his speeder. I had a wound going down the side of my head from a cooha's claw, he was mad as hell that I got blood on his vehicle. Got even more pissed off when he noticed the cooha tore up the upholstery of his speeder.

He beat me from sun up till night. I only remember being happy that I got to stay inside, the animals probably would have picked me off otherwise.

But one day he pushed too far.

He never kept a blaster in the house. Or at least, I don't think he did. He probably would have used it on me sooner if that were the case.

Anyhow, he came back from town, blaster tucked into his belt. I'd already snuck in for the night. My big crime that time was being noticed before he wanted me to be notice. I'd learned that fighting back just made him hit harder and last longer, so I took the beating. Everything went south when he pushed me a little too far and I knocked over a lamp.

The oil washed over the floor and went up as quick as anything. Dad started shouting that I was only good for breaking things and then started going on about something else. I don't remember much besides the fire crackling and my head getting bashed against the floor.

He only stopped because the smoke was choking him. I only remember the shape of him running around and realizing that he was trapped in there with me. I must have been in and out of consciousness because it seemed like less than a second before ceiling beams started coming down.

Last thing dad did was start swearing and kicking at me. I knew he knew I wasn't dead because he pulled the blaster out of his belt and leveled it at me.

I never did figure out what he was thinking. I know better than to dream that he was going for a mercy kill, more than likely he was mad enough to kill me himself rather than let the house take the opportunity from him.

There's no spirit looking out for me, but just as he pulled the trigger a beam came down and his shot went wide. It burned through my shoulder, and a blanket of cinders landed on my arm. The shock of it managed to spur me into moving.

Dad went down. Trapped by a pillar across his back, his blaster clattered to the ground. What happened when was a blur, but I found it next to me. I thought it took forever to scoop myself off the floor, but it couldn't have been long or the fires would have got me.

The blaster was heavier than I thought it would be.

Dad was shouting, telling me to help him.

Telling me to turn around and save his life after he had damn near taken mine. Escape wasn't on my mind, I'm not sure revenge was either. The fires had to have been hissing and popping and throwing cinders into the air, but I don't remember any of it.

I just remember leveling the blaster at dad.

I remember looking him in the eye and wrapping my finger around the trigger.

I remember hoping that he was just as scared and helpless as I was all those nights he left me outside. Just as scared and helpless as those nights I spent trapped in the house.

I pulled the trigger.

And shot him in the hip.

He didn't deserve a quick ticket out of the fires. As far as I was concerned I was going to watch him burn, even if it meant following him to hell.

I did, for a while. He went on shouting and after a few seconds the pleas turned into demands turned into incoherent screaming and shouting and whatever insults a dying man could come up with.

The smoke is what ran me out of the room. As much as I would have like to stay and watch the mean bastard die in a fire, the urge to live hit me harder. My arm was useless, blistered and bleeding and charred where bigger pieces had landed on it.

I'm not sure how I managed to escape, but next thing I knew I was sitting on the hood of his damned speeder, watching the house come down. Fires are loud, with cracking wood and groaning metal, but I stayed and listened until the screaming stopped.

My only regret is that he hadn't suffered for longer.

.***.***.***.***.

We didn't talk much. Father always drank, he also did well enough at hiding his temper that no one believed me when I told them.

It was never just a beating. He always made it into an ironic punishment or something that he could pretend was such.

On more than one occasion I was made to play the servant for him and his friends, as reminder that my mother was a lowly kitchen worker. I dropped a tray of drinks once. Father had me lick the mess up, glass included.

When my suffering wasn't being made into the night's entertainment, it was some sort of twisted lesson.

Talking back earned me one day locked in my room for every one word I said out of term. Father didn't bother counting very closely, and he always rounded up. He also didn't remember that I needed to eat. I quickly learned to keep food hidden away, and there was more than one occasion that I was left to starve for a week at a time.

Wearing my uniform improperly earned a burn from the end of father's cigar. One cut during inspections lead to one burn, placed directly where the flaw had been. For a long while my most common mistake was a turned rank band. After that, I hit a growth spurt but wasn't allowed to leave the suite for a new tunic. The sleeves had gone too short, now a ring of cigar burns on my wrists occasionally reminds me of the time.

Attempting to befriend another cadet yielded a unique punishment. I was left alone, but the other child was made to suffer. It didn't take long for them to notice. Even worse was when father started encouraging them to turn on me. Any time another cadet outdid me in some way, they were rewarded. It didn't take long for them to start sabotaging me. First it was small things, like disabling my blaster before targeting practice, then it spiraled out of control. The night before a physical fitness test, one of the cadets beat me enough to fracture my leg. Father refused to let me sit the test out, so I ran on the wound.

Losing a fight was a sign of weakness, so was asking for help, or showing compassion, or showing any emotion at all. Father was of the mind that the quickest way to cure weakness was to beat it out of someone. After he learned of the incident with the cadet I earned ten lashes across the back.

Eventually I learned to stop making mistakes, or at least grow very good at hiding them. Biting my tongue became second nature, and I became the perfect cadet to anyone that was watching. By the time I reached my late teens I'd even learned to make myself more trouble than I was worth to the other students.

Father, of course, attributed every success I ever had to his own parenting. Every failure, however, was my own. When I finally did leave the _Absolution_ as a lieutenant, I hadn't a friend to my name though I had plenty of enemies.

I'd like to think that I didn't learn a damnable thing from my father, but I would be lying if I said that his hellish lessons didn't serve me well in my career.

Well enough that I climbed the ranks in record time. A promotion and that rank of captain by the age twenty, major by twenty three, colonel by twenty five, and then general only a year after that. Anyone else would say it's lonely at the top, and now I might be inclined to agree, but for a long while I was thankful to simply not be locked in a back room.

Ruling through fear was all I had ever seen work, so I kept it up. Any project that came under my control was completed faster, more efficiently, and overall better than anyone else would have done it. It didn't matter that everyone hated me, I got results.

What did matter was that father was still wandering the First Order, acting as if he was the reason for my own successes. Wandering about the halls making stupid and short sighted decisions that invited weakness in the First Order. I could try to hide behind the excuse that fathers murder was for the greater good. It certainly was, but I had my own more pressing motives.

Father had gotten himself stranded on Parnassos. I would have been content to let that folly end in his death, but one of his old friends pushed for a rescue mission. It was beneath a general, but I hadn't gained Snokes favor yet, so I was left with orders to save father.

The mission was a success, in more ways than one. Father brought a woman back with him. He always did have the habit of picking up strays.

It didn't take long for Phasma to be brought into the First Order. It took even less time to convince her that she was better served not working under fathers command. I don't care what her exact motives were, if she was angry or just ambitious, but we hatched a plot.

Simple, but effective, like the best solutions usually are. A Parnassos beetles bite is nearly impossible to detect and its venom as no known cure. After he returned to the _Absolution_, Phasma released one into his quarters. I don't known when he was bit, but the venom worked slowly. Imbedding itself in his muscle tissue for days before breaking down and rotting him from the inside out.

When it was clear that he was on his death bed, I did make a final visit. Days long, I played the role of a concerned son to anyone that was watching. Of course, as soon as the doors were shut and we were left alone, I made sure the old man knew exactly what deeds he was being punished for.

Shortly after that, Supreme Leader Snoke began entrusting me with a series of sensitive projects. There's a chance that he knows, but I don't suppose it really matters to him. He's never been the one to shy away from crude ambition.

Of course, neither have I.


	20. Long Nights

AN: Ok, Monday was kind of heavy so I decided to be a little (kind of, relatively) lighter and fluffier. Also, special thanks to The Gnomist for consistently leaving reviews/comments, feedback means a ton and having someone spend their time to leave a comment really is the best complement an author can get.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori hadn't left the generals suite.

The afternoon stretched into the night and they shared conversation as much as they did several heavy silences. The liquor cabinet went undisturbed. Both were in an emotional state, and neither thought they could hold themselves together against the weight of the past and the rush of a drink.

As it were, each of them only managed to keep it together because they had the other to lean on. One tale of the past lead to another, and another, and another.

When the chrono ticked over from one day and to the next, Lori had just finished telling Hux the story of her mother. Enlisted in the imperial navy, she had deserted to wild space after the destruction of the Death Star. There she had met Lori's father, the relationship burned bright and hot, but quickly. Lori had one memory of her mother. She was no older than three when her mother collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath against a stab wound to the chest. No one came to help, and the young Lori was left wrapped in her mother's arms as she died.

Lori had no idea who had done the stabbing.

When she had finished and the new day had only just begun, Hux told her what he knew of his mother. A so called 'kitchen woman' she had been a servant in his father's house. After Brendol learned of what had come of his one night of debauchery, he fired the woman and expected to never speak of her again. It was only after Armitage was born that the obvious family resemblance and the pressure of rumors forced Brendol to take him in. Brendol's wife never let Armitage forget that he didn't belong in her home, and his real mother never tried to take him back.

He assumed they both died as a result of the battle over Arkanis, and he didn't much care if that wasn't the case.

The conversation drifted on, sometimes digging up deep scars of the past, and sometimes being about things no heavier than their favorite songs. They spoke of politics and of the news and of history. They traded stories that had sustained them through their darker years.

Hux told Lori about the tales of dashing imperial officers who had single handedly saved their whole fleets, or had brought entire systems into imperial space. He told her about the wise and cunning Grand Admiral Thrawn and about the shrewd politicking of Grand Moff Takrin.

Lori told Hux about the mythic exploits of bounty hunters from across the galaxy. She told him about the legendary prowess of mandalorian warriors and of the thrilling but near suicidal pod-racers that scattered the outer rim.

While they talked, the chrono crept on. Their conversation had taken them from the kitchen counter, to the window side table, and then to the couch in the center of the room.

Sinking into cushions that rarely saw visitors, they asked each other dark little things.

Would you do it again?

Did you enjoy it?

"What did you do afterwards?" Hux asked Lori.

There was no space between them, neither physically nor metaphorically. She tiredly thought back to life nearly fifteen years ago.

"I ran away, stole a med kit from my nearest neighbor and hopped the first ship going off-planet that I could find," she stifled a yawn, "haven't been back since."

"The pilot just let a wounded fourteen year old onto their ship with no questions asked?" Hux had slouched down in his seat.

"That would be irresponsible. No, they didn't even know I was there."

The general's head nodded with fatigue. This time yesterday he had just been waking up. "Not as irresponsible as smuggling yourself off-planet."

"Eh, it worked out in the end," her head leaned against the general's shoulder.

"I suppose it did." he said back after a long pause.

He waited for another comment from the bounty hunter. After that he had one final thing he wanted to say before calling it a night. The moment stretched out and when Lori said nothing back, Hux realized that she had fallen asleep.

Going stiff at the realization, he considered sliding out from under her and retreating to his bedroom. The thought didn't last long before he realized that he could take solace in the presence of another person.

Happy with his situation for the first time he could remember, Hux rested his head against Lori's.

Sleep came quickly.


	21. Short Days

AN: I realize this is a second short chapter in a row, and I am sorry. But, to make up for it I have some shenanigans planed for Mondays chapter.

.***.***.***.***.

The morning came with a soft silence to it. Lori and Hux woke up to find themselves one of top of the other on the couch. Neither decided to address it. Not for fear that it would drive the other away, but for lack of something to say. Just the night before, they had said things they had never said out loud before. They had said things they hadn't even let themselves think.

Hux was about to rush out the door for some meeting when Lori stopped him and made him eat breakfast. There was something charmingly domestic in the exchange that neither of them knew how to appreciate.

It didn't last long before they made their excuses and went their separate ways for the day. There was no promise to meet up later, nor a reason for either to draw the moment out. They had each made it to their separate destinations before either had worked up the nerve to tell the other how they really felt.

The door to Lori's suite slid shut behind her with its now-familiar hiss. Her shift wasn't for another six hours.

Predictably, Vanya was in the kitchen.

The lieutenant looked the captain up and down. With Lori's uniform heavy with wrinkles and her hair half way fallen out of its bun, Vanya had so many comments to pick from she found herself trapped by too many options.

Lori was in a haze, though this time it wasn't from worry or liquor. Despite it, she didn't forget to hide her accent with one from the outer-rim.

"You get one question and one comment." She headed her roommate off, knowing that simply walking away would only encourage Vanya more.

"Fine, but only because I was just about to go to sleep." The lieutenant tried to salvage some of her pride.

Lori sat on one of her own barstools, already ready to get the conversation over with.

"Who is it? I have to know, please? It's killing me! Quin and I have a betting pool and I have to know."

"I'm not telling you that."

"You said I got one question!"

"I never said I was going to answer it."

"You're the worst," Vanya gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes.

"…and that sounded like your one comment. Good talk."

"Wait!" the lieutenant pushed herself away from the kitchen counter and followed Lori a few steps towards her room, "one more, I'll play nice, I swear."

"I'm taking a nap. Goodnight Vanya," Lori opened the door to her room

"Lori! Did you at least have a nice night out?"

She paused in the door way, considering the question and fighting a small smile.

"I did." she decided.

Vanya tried to draw the conversation out even more but was met with a shutting door.

Finally having some privacy, Lori found that she was more tired than she let herself realize. Despite not knowing when they had finally fallen asleep, she figured that they hadn't been asleep for long. Peeling herself out of the wrinkled uniform, she couldn't help but notice a hint of the general's cologne on the cloth. Before she let herself get too hung up on last night, she stepped into the fresher.

A shower and a short nap were in order. After that it would be back to business.

Not just in the supply officer, but as a loyal agent for her favorite general.

.***.***.***.***.

Hux's meeting was with the former sergeant Hank Vaylor.

After half a day spent with the finest interrogators the First Order had to offer, Hux was sure that Hank wouldn't have the will to keep a single secret. The walk was long, and the doors to his final destination opened slowly, a security measure to make escaping just that much more difficult.

The room wasn't special, bare besides a torture droid and the adjustable table that held Hux's prisoner. The general had dismissed the interrogator, and his Stormtrooper guard remained on the outside of the doors. With the table propped half way to standing, Hank had his back to the hall.

He assumed it was just another First Order torture expert.

"Back for another round you piece of space trash? I can do this all night."

Hux considered the droid in the corner of the room. Deciding that he couldn't be bothered with it, he took his time to walk around the table.

Despite having his eyes half swollen shut, Vaylor recognized the general in a second. Even without seeing the sneer that he knew had to be there, Hank knew the general by his cartoonishly bright hair and stiff walk.

"As much as I would enjoy watching you suffer for another night, you have information that I want."

"I'll die before I give it to you!"

Hux rolled his eyes. So predictable, these rebellious types. Lazily clicking through options on the tables control panel, the general settled on what he thought was an equally predictable, but classic, response.

Ten thousand volts of electricity arced through the table and the man at just low enough of an amperage not to kill him. Hank couldn't stifle a scream for long, after it came he lost it even faster. All the air was driven from his lungs in an instant and every muscle in his body strained to just below their snapping point.

Waiting until the man had pulled himself as far as the restraints would allow didn't take long. At his leisure the general cycled the shocks on and off, each click bringing another breathless scream or a chance for Hank to greedily gasp for breath.

The control panel popped up a warning, Hanks vitals had entered the critical range. It estimated that additional shocks would result in permanent brain damage. Hux closed the warnings and went on until he was satisfied.

Sweat came off as steam from the overheated and near delirious traitor. Hux took a few lazy steps to the side of the table.

"Name your conspirators. Name your sources. Name your goals. Then this can stop."

A second passed where Hank only gasped for breath. When he finally did form words, he looked Hux straight in the eye and spat two words at him.

"Eat shit."

Hux frowned.

Then he had an idea. A uniquely cruel idea that he wouldn't have been able to consider only a day ago. Without saying anything more to his prisoner, the general left the room.

Due on the bridge, he left simple instructions for the interrogators. They were to continue with their duties until the end of third shift. Then they were to leave and not return until the general gave the all clear.

He had a plan.

If it was going to work, he needed his accomplice.


	22. Grand Plans

General Hux was finished with his duties on the bridge, but he waited until the next shift of workers had settled into their places before leaving. It didn't raise anyone's suspicions, some days he stayed all the way thorough the next shift as well as his own. When he was sure that the halls would be clear of all but the last few stragglers, he took a winding route to his destination.

He realized the risks that visiting Lori in her quarters carried, but his request was too urgent for a message.

There was something else he needed to say in person, besides.

It wasn't lost on the general that a confession of his affections immediately followed by a request for help in torturing a man was an upsetting combination. After last night, however, he was sure that he understood Lori enough to be right in his assumption that she would be okay with what he had to say.

With both things he had to say.

Nervousness didn't sit well with the general. Pushing it down, he wondered if he should knock. Deciding that it was better if he didn't delay, the general pulled a code cylinder from his pocket. It was his ship, and he could unlock every door.

Coming to the suite, Hux steadied himself.

One deep breath later, he stepped into the living room. When he did, he found someone sitting on the couch. From his place by the door he could only see that they had the same dusty brown hair as Lori.

From her place on the couch, Vanya assumed the new arrival was Sydney or Quin getting back home from their shift.

Damnable nerves getting the best of him, Hux spoke quickly and without waiting for a reply.

"Lori, I know I should have… I mean. I'm sorry for just walking into your living room, but there's something I should have told you last night, and I'm sorry I didn't have the chance. Or that I didn't say it this morning. It's probably a bit late, and I have something else to ask of you. But… I just…"

Recognizing the voice, Vanya froze.

"I love you, Lori. I should have said it last night, you told me so much about yourself, and we were so close. I love you, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. And… I…"

The general's words drifted to a lame stop when the person on the couch turned around.

Hux knew how to handle anger. Fear was no stranger to him. Hatred and resentment were old hat. He was even learning to deal with vulnerability. Joy was new, but he found that he liked it.

Embarrassment was a foreign concept and Hux had no idea what to do with it.

Vanya didn't even know what she didn't know. Rather than daring say anything to the absolute last person she expected to see in her quarters, the lieutenant slowly stood and backed across the room. She wondered if there was some protocol for greeting the general after he had barged into her house, but if it existed it was buried in her mind below thick blankets of confusion and a rising tide of panic.

Both were looking at each other in a shocked silence when Vanya knocked on Lori's door. Slowly at first, and then increasingly panicked when it didn't immediately open. Hux felt his face going hot with a blush that he would never acknowledge. Vanya's knocks eventually grew to shake the door in its frame.

After what felt like an eternity the door slid open.

"What are you-" Lori was cut off by Vanya shoving her way into the room and pushing Lori in with her.

Before the captain had time to recover, Vanya ordered the door shut and locked it behind her.

"What the fuck is General Hux doing in our living room!?" she knew exactly why he was there, but her mind was in too panicked a state to admit it.

"What?"

"You heard me. Tall. Red hair. Hard-ass from hell. Terror of the bridge. The guy that talks to Supreme Leader Snoke like it's no big deal. He's yelled at Kylo Ren, and Ren _didn't_ chop him in half for it."

Lori had only just seen the general's outline before Vanya shoved her into the room. She certainly didn't know what had possessed him to show up to her suite, unannounced of all things. He had to know that was going to be a huge risk to her cover story.

"Vanya, look I don't-"

The lieutenant cut her off again, "Are you fucking the general?"

"What! No, we're just-"

"Do you want to?"

"Vanya!"

"Oh my god, I can't believe that's who you've been seeing. You do you, but you have to know he's like, mostly evil. Right?"

"No he's not. Look, it's complicated." Lori was trying, in vain, to figure out how to defuse the situation

"Complicated? I bet. He just came in here like a love sick puppy. He thought I was you, and I love you was the third thing out of his mouth."

"He… what?" just as Lori thought she was reigning Vanya in, she was taken off guard again.

"Yeah. He started apologizing for… last night? What did you two do? And then he just started dropping I love you's all over the place. Or… at least twice."

Lori's mind took a moment to catch up to the reality of Vanya's words.

Before the younger woman had the chance to speak again, a knock came from the door. Both of them looked to the side with a sudden jerk of their heads. Vanya was the first to say something.

"You're not going to answer that. Right?"

"Of course I am."

"But it's _General Hux_!" She put a nearly comedic amount of emphasis on the last two words.

"Yeah, it is. We established that." Lori unlocked the door.

Vanya hadn't the chance to say another word before the door slid open.

.***.***.***.***.

Hux hadn't the chance to say another word before the door slammed shut.

Muffled shouts came from beyond the wall. He couldn't make out the words, and was thankful for that fact. He could only imagine what that lieutenant was asking of Lori. Or even worse, what she was telling her.

Hux clenched his hands shut and then let them open again. He didn't realize he was shaking. Even worse was that he didn't know if it was from past nervousness, the shock of adrenaline he had gotten the second he realized he wasn't speaking to Lori, or the fact that he knew he would have to confront her after this mess.

The situation somehow made itself worse with the opening of the front door.

Shoulders stiffening to the point that they made the general jump, he didn't dare turn around.

Quin had just stepped into the room, only to stop mere inches short of running into the generals back. For a split second she was about to blurt out an apology.

Then she recognized who it was.

Several things ran through the skittish lieutenant's mind. None of them were positive.

"G-general Hux?" She managed to stagger out, still standing inches behind the man.

He didn't know how to reply. The procedure for greeting a higher ranking officers in ones personnel dwelling rattled around the back of his mind, but he was distracted by a thousand other -more pressing- thoughts.

Quin wasn't sure if he had heard her, but she was even less sure if she should repeat herself. Hoping that she was taking the least terrible of her options, she slowly edged against the wall. The kitchen blocked her path to her room, so she slid towards Vanya's.

Half way there and still not confronted by the general, she thought she was about to leave without further incident. A nervous glance to the room found the general red faced and –as far as Quin thought- shaking with anger.

In reality Hux was still fighting a losing battle with nerves and was blushing wildly. Only getting more annoyed that he couldn't keep himself from feeling too much, the general finally managed to make himself walk across the room.

Quin jumped at the movement and rushed the rest of the way to Vanya's room. She had already shut it tight by the time Hux came to Lori's door and began to knock.

Hux only waited for a second, but it felt like years before the door slid open. Confronted by Lori's confused expression and Vanya's wide eyes, he wasn't sure what to say.

Lori was the first to try and salvage the situation, "Vanya, why don't you leave us alone for a minute?"

It may have been a question, but all of them knew it was closer to an order.

Her curiosity eating at her almost as much as her desire not to earn the generals wrath, Vanya slowly slunk out of Lori's room.

When the space was open, Hux made his way into the back room. When the door slid shut he still had no idea what he was going to say.

Lori, however, was at no loss for words.

"What were you thinking? Did you… I know you thought Vanya was me from behind. But she said that you said… What's going on?"

Just managing to get over the surprise that had stunned him, Hux muttered out a few words.

"I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry." He picked himself up in volume and tone, relying on old instincts to pretend that nothing was wrong, "I have something to ask of you. It's about work and it's urgent."

Lori wasn't about to drop the topic.

"No, work can wait for a minute. I…" Lori took a step closer to the general, she could lie and twist words all she wanted. But to be genuine, to even confront a true piece of herself, and then to be vulnerable enough to show it was something she had only managed once.

With Armitage.

And she decided he was worth doing it a second time.

"Armitage, I love you."

Hearing his name on Lori's lips set Hux weak in the knees, and the rest of the message threatened to take him down the rest of the way.

Nervous energy breaking over him like a thunder wave, Hux dropped tension in his shoulders that he hadn't even realize he had been holding onto. Only distantly noticing that he had been holding his breath, the general found himself leaning forward.

"Armie, are you oka-"

Before Lori could finish her words the general wrapped his arms around her and leaned in for a long, fervent, kiss.

Ready to accept it, Lori threaded her arms into the comfortable position they had found around the generals shoulders in that one moment that seemed so long ago.

Slow and deep with the passion, this kiss felt different than the last. Nervous, but with the knowledge that it would be accepted, that both of them were accepted by the other. It was a kiss heavy with the understanding that more would come.

More would come.

Soon, but not now.

Captured by a new unfamiliar mix of emotions, they kept to each other's arms. Hux leaning his head against Lori's, he meant to say his next words with a certain boldness and strength.

Instead, they came out soft and tender and vulnerable.

"I love you too."

In the heavy silence left behind Hux's words, a tiny set of whispers came from beyond the door that lead to the fresher. Lori and Hux both took the sounds for exactly what they really were.

Suddenly back in one piece, the general was ready to put the fear of god into the two lieutenants. Deciding she would like for her roommates to live, Lori stopped the general with hand on his chest.

Taking the gesture in stride, Hux stopped mid step while Lori went to the door.

It opened with a whoosh to reveal Vanya and Quin listening at the door.

"Really?" she looked down at the two, offering nothing besides a single word and a look thick with disappointment.

Quin was the first to move, squeaking out and apology and rushing back into Vanya's room, abandoning Vanya in the process. The brown haired lieutenant was slower to move, but after deciding that she had nothing to say in her own defense, and after seeing a furious Hux in the background, she slowly backed away.

After both were gone, Lori shut the door. Satisfied that neither were coming back, she looked to Hux.

"We're going to need to do something about them," he said.

"They're harmless enough. Besides, no one on this ship would believe them if they said anything."

He still wasn't convinced, "rumors lead to dangerous consequences."

"Don't worry about it," The mischievous glint that made Hux weak sat in Lori's eye, "If they do say anything, I already have a plan for how I'm going to handle it."

He would have questioned anyone else's idea but that look almost made him want to see the lieutenants try and tell someone.

As much as he would have loved to make the moment last, Hux did have one other thing he came to Lori's suite for.

"Lori? I did mean it when I also came to talk about work."

"Why am I not surprised?" To the generals relief, she didn't sound disappointed.

Already raw from the moment they had just shared, he hopped he wasn't making too big of a request too fast.

"As we speak, I'm trying to get information about the conspiracy's plans out of our prisoner. He's proved a difficult case, but I have an idea on how to break him."

Out of everyone she had to work with to embed herself in the resistance cell, Hank had certainly been the nicest. If they had met under different circumstances, she may have even worked a job with him.

But she wouldn't call him a friend.

And she definitely knew better than to have formed real attachments to a target.

"I'm listening," her own strategic wheels were also turning, "tell me your idea first, but I think I have one that'll work."

Hux considered whether or not he was going to sugar coat his plan, decided that Lori deserved an unedited version, and then began.

"Vaylor will die before we can force the information out of him. But if I can convince him that someone else is going to suffer because of his stubbornness, then I think-"

"You think that he'll start talking if he sees his friends getting tortured." She came to Hux's point before he said it.

"Yes." Despite knowing they were passed it, he felt his guard going up.

"And who better to 'catch' than Vaylor's direct superior and trusted co-conspirator," she smiled with something wicked hidden just below the surface, "You beat me to my own idea, Armie."

The cruel little corner of Hux's heart melted just like the rest of him, "You'll have to put on quite the performance."

"Please, what else could I be besides the perfect damsel in distress?"

Hux wasn't sure if they were talking about the job anymore, "I could imagine a few things."

"Before you do, we should get to work." She took a quick step to the bedroom door, trying to leave the suite before Vanya and Quin got brave enough to venture into the living room

"I had the interrogation ward emptied for the next few hours. Feel free to say whatever you need to sell the act." Hux followed closely behind.

Lori gave a final comment before stepping into the hall.

"Don't worry, I already have an idea."


	23. A Visitor for Mister Vaylor

AN: Welp Monday was as close to a comedy as I think I can write. So, here's something completely different. Also, romance notwithstanding, lets not forget that Lori and Hux are villains.

.***.***.***.***.

"You'll be on speaker and Vaylor will have a visual into your room, but you won't be able to see us." Hux filled Lori in on more details as they walked deeper into the interrogation wards.

The halls were empty of any other personnel. Lori believed Hux when he said that all the workers were gone, but she didn't want to spend any longer in the dim halls than she had to.

"As long as you give me a verbal cue, I can figure something out."

Hux still wasn't sure how to give advice rather than an order, but he tried, "I've been using electric shocks. Whenever I act like I'm activating your table, arch your back and try to scream, but don't actually do it. You wouldn't be able to get a breath in at the voltage the table is set at."

The oddness of the conversation wasn't lost on Lori, but she appreciated that the general was trying to be helpful. Even if it was in his own strange way.

"I've been electrocuted before, I got this."

Hux was about to ask about the occasion before he decided that he would have the chance later. They came to an empty room. While the door took its time to open the general took a moment to try at a complement.

"I'm sure you do."

Lori waited until the door was done and she had stepped into the room to reply, "I never thought I would say this, but strap me into the torture table and let's get this show on the road."

Hux appreciated the absurdity of the situation and was glad that Lori had a similar mindset.

"After you, captain Gallus."

The bounty hunter gave the general a small roll of the eyes before stepping onto the small stand at the bottom of the table. It was rotated to a vertical position, and when her back rested against its surface she found that her head fit snuggly into a brace. Hux clamped the thick restraints down around Lori's wrists and ankles.

Satisfied that his accomplice couldn't move from the board, Hux turned the table on, only to lean it back thirty or so degrees.

"Don't suppose you can loosen the cuffs a little? I think the blood flow to my hands has stopped."

"Sorry, they only have one setting"

Lori was pretty sure that was by design. She knew she wasn't going to be shocked, burned, or otherwise tortured, but being trapped on the table was already grating at her. It wouldn't be too much of an act on her part to look scared and panicked.

Hux was a stranger to worrying for another, but he could see that Lori was uncomfortable. Not sure what to think about seeing the bounty hunter strapped to the table and completely at his mercy, he made a mental note to make this quick.

But he still needed to make it convincing.

"You don't look like you've spent a day on the tables," Hux commented.

Lori thought about it for a second before trying to wiggle her uniform out of place, "run a hand through my hair, really mess it up. If I'd been flailing all day it would be all over the place."

Hux couldn't really get a hand between Lori's head and the table from where he stood, so he lowered the table until it was completely horizontal. Lori was aware of her compromising position but managed to awkwardly shuffle some wrinkles into her cloths. While she did, a few strands of hair fell from their place. Occasionally Hux's fingers would catch and harshly tug at a section.

"Ouch." It didn't really hurt, but Lori still had a point to prove.

"Sorry," the general looked down at her, "I don't know how, but your collar is somehow still in place."

Of all the times for her uniform to be stubbornly clinging to regulation.

Lori leaned her head back as far as the head rest would let her, "go on."

Leaning over the brown haired bounty hunter to tug at her uniform left Hux with stronger opinions about tables and tie downs, but now was neither the time nor the place for him to say anything about it. Lori distracted herself from the claustrophobic feel of the head rest by focusing on the general's cologne. His hands at her neck were another welcome distraction, though now was neither the time nor the place for her to say anything about it.

Taking a last look at the woman, Hux added a few final touches. He twisted her rank band to one side, loosened and moved the belt that laid over Lori's tunic off center, and then he considered one more adjustment.

Lori saw him thinking about it, "Just do it."

Not needing to be told a second time, the general unclasped the top fastener of her tunic. It wasn't at all revealing, if anything it did nothing more than let the fabric move an extra inch out of its original place.

But Hux was very aware that he was undoing the bounty hunters clothing. Lori was just as aware of the fact. Neither of them thought now was the time or place to address it.

"That should do the trick," Hux looked down at Lori.

"I hope so." She added on.

The general returned the table to its upright, but tilted, position. Lori looked around the room in search of cameras or speakers. She didn't have to search for long before she found the camera. It was set up to see the prisoners face, she wouldn't have much opportunity to hide a poorly faked expression or a delayed reaction.

The table groaned to a stop. Not but a second later Hux powered the control panel down. He knew a malfunction was wildly unlikely, but he'd rather leave it off just in case.

"See you on the other side, Armie." Lori spoke with a well faked sense of confidence.

Hux just barely saw though it but he wasn't about to call her on it, "it won't be long now. I'll be back soon."

An awkward silence settled for just a moment before Hux left the room.

Lori wasn't one to panic. Just being tied to a table definitely wasn't going to be the thing that pushed her over the edge. The tight hold on her head wasn't welcome, but that alone wasn't what was eating at her.

She wondered when exactly she had decided to trust the general enough to let him strap her to a torturers table with no questions asked. More than that, she had been ready to suggest it herself. She sighed, unsure of whether or not she was even upset.

No. She decided, she wasn't. If she could talk to herself from one month ago, Lori wasn't sure she would have believed a word she said. Even if she could go back just one day and let herself know what was coming, she wasn't sure she would have bought it.

As it was now, she was left clenching and unclenching her hands in an attempt at getting the blood to flow in them. She was surprised it was a problem, with as much as her pulse had been racing only a moment ago.

.***.***.***.***.

While he waited on the door to Vaylor's chamber to open, Hux tried to shake a few stubborn thoughts from his mind. Now was a time to focus on work, and not personal pursuits.

Just barely convincing himself of that idea took as long as the door did. Putting on his best I've-already-won face the general stepped to the front of Vaylor's table. The door shut and Vaylor just barely had it in him to speak.

"Eat. Shit."

His nose was broken. The blood from the wound had already dried to nearly black and mostly chipped away. He was missing a tooth as well. Only one, the interrogator must have decided more would make talking too difficult.

The swelling around Vaylor's eyes had gone down, only to be replaced by a deep bruise. With his vision cleared he got a good look at the general. Smug as ever, Hank would have taken a swing at him on principle if he had a free hand.

The grin on the general's face wasn't all an act. As far as Hux was concerned, he did have an ace in the hole.

He started with a thin veneer of civility, "Before you upset me, you get one last chance to tell me what I want to know."

Hank still had gory residue left in his mouth from his lost tooth. Instead of coming up with some clever taunt or a swear, he spat a mouthful of old blood at the general.

It landed short, but Hux took it for its intended meaning.

"That's a shame."

A small click of a button had a screen drop out of its hidden sheath in the ceiling. It wasn't often that it got used, and Hank wasn't sure where the general was going with it. He would have made a sarcastic comment, but after the days on the table he hadn't the energy for it.

He especially didn't have the energy to deal with what he saw on the screen.

Captain Gallus was strapped to a table. Uniform ruined and hair in complete disarray, Hank could only worry that meant she had gotten nothing but electric shocks for however long they had been holding onto her. Her head hung down as low as the restraint would let it, leaving Vaylor with an indirect view of her features.

"She doesn't know anything." Hank was only half bluffing, and he knew it.

But he didn't know as much a Hux did.

"That's certainly what she said, but we both know that's not true." The general stood with his back to the screen. In part so that he could watch Vaylor, but also because he didn't want to see Lori in whatever pitiful pose she had put herself into.

Hank tried to figure something out, but his mind was slow from a few days without food or sleep. Captain Gallus didn't know many details, captain Cray had seen to that. She could name everyone on the _Finalizer_, but the second that the general started asking about sources or long term plans she wouldn't have anything for him.

Besides, Hank couldn't help but blame himself for part of this mess. The only proof they could have found on Gallus was the copy of the report that Hank gave her.

"Last chance Vaylor. Name the rest of your conspirators. Name your sources. Name your goals. Then this can stop."

Hank was taking a gamble and he didn't like it.

"Get fucked Hux."

The general wasn't too surprised at the initial defiance. Miffed, he pulled a remote that wasn't connected to anything from his coat pocket. He made a show of pushing the button on it, taking care to click it loudly.

"Oops." He gave the word perfectly dead pan

Lori heard the moment coming and snapped into action. A quick scream became nothing more than a yelp while she pulled at the restraints and arched her back as far as she could pull it. Eyes going back as far as she could push them and features twisting into the best approximation of agony she could make, she looked like a woman begging for death. There wasn't any power running through the table, but just keeping up the act was physically taxing.

Especially for how long it lasted.

"Stop! Hey!" she heard Vaylor shouting over the speakers in her room.

In Vaylor's room Hux considered the remote but made no move to stop the apparent assault, "ah-ah. I'll stop when I want."

Lori faked a spasm just to get a chance to readjust and shake the strain from the muscles in her back. It didn't help much. She wasn't sure if Hux had kept the juice flowing through Hank for this long at a time. She knew from experience that just one shock this long would have her telling her captures whatever they wanted.

"Shit! Fine, stop! You're going to kill her."

Lori's back was definitely killing her.

Hux clicked the remote heavily again, "That's better."

Even though the electricity had supposedly stopped, Lori was careful not to break character. She really was huffing for breath and more than ready to relax, but she also bit her tongue to force a tear to her eye.

Hank bought the act completely. Hux didn't turn around for fear of what exactly he might see.

Keeping true to what the former sergeant thought of him, Hux held up the remote, "Names."

He already knew, curtesy of Lori. This was just serving as a way to test how truthful Hank was feeling. He watched the man grapple with his decision, just before Hux thought he might have to try a second round of fake torture Hank spoke.

"Mina Cray. My boss is Mina Cray."

"Is that so?" Hux acted as if he had learned something vital. He watched the spirit fade out of Hanks eyes. Savoring the look as a sign of victory over the man, Hux was almost reluctant to move on.

But he had more pressing questions.

"And what exactly did she want to do with my report?"

At that Hank couldn't help but grin just a little. He wasn't sure how long he had been trapped here, but he knew it had to be more than a day.

He knew it had to have been long enough for at least one of the other copies to have made it to the _Absolution_.

The former sergeant almost laughed because he wasn't sure what else to do. He'd been so close to getting off this scrap heap before the general swooped in and ruined his day. If only he'd been a little luckier than neither him nor captain Gallus would have to die that day.

Vaylor was at least lucky enough to understand what he was risking.

He was at least lucky enough to die knowing that they had won anyways.

Hux looked at the man and thought he may have broken him. Lori heard a half choked laughter coming from the speaker and wished that she could have a visual.

"You asshole. It doesn't matter what she wanted, it's about what she did."

The general had one idea about what Vaylor might be saying, "What?"

"You really think she just sent me out with the only copy? Mina hates me almost as she does you."

Hux's blood ran cold.

"You're lying." He told the trapped man, desperate to believe his own words.

"Piece of shit, you probably tortured Gallus to get that idea. Mina didn't tell her shit, just let her go."

Hank could live with the idea of leaving captain Cray to fend for herself, and he hadn't actually named Wilt, Janu, or the others. He was also trying to buy Lori a ticket out of here, or –if he were being honest with himself- a quick death.

Not wanting to be lectured by his prisoner Hux powered on the table. Lori didn't get a warning before the screaming started. It cycled off and on more times than she bothered to count, and in the silence that followed she thought that Hank might be dead.

Then the talking began again.

"Where are the other copies?" the only reason Hux didn't loom over the table was because he knew to avoid the former sergeants bloody spit.

"On Cardinals desk." The man huffed out.

He wasn't lying. Hux could see the truth of the man's words with the tiny bit of life that had come back to him.

Hux wasn't concerned with who their source was. Not enough to bother letting Hank live long enough to pry the information out of him. Besides, he could always tear the information out of captain Cray or any of the conspirators that Lori had exposed.

Hank wasn't going to live to the end of the day, both of them knew that. Hux was happy to let the former sergeant be a training dummy for the new interrogator until his eventual death, but he wanted to deal his own uniquely cruel blow to the man.

Leaving the screen and microphones on, Hux left the room without a second word. Cardinal having the report may not spell death for the general, but it might mean a munity of the _Absolution_. If Cardinal went public with the information, it might even inspire a few other generals to form a coalition against Hux. Supreme Leader Snoke was a powerful ally, but he didn't control the hearts and minds of every general on his staff.

Hux wouldn't let revelations about is past be the thing to derail a glorious future.

But first, he was going to be unbelievably petty.

Stepping into Lori's cell, Hux made sure to stand in clear view of the camera. She wasn't sure where he was planning, so she didn't break character. Hank began saying something over the speaker but stopped when Hux deactivated the restraints.

Lori didn't question him. She had half an idea of what the general was thinking when she was free to step down onto the ground. The last bit of confusion was gone completely when Hux put an arm around Lori's shoulder.

"Would you like to tell mister Vaylor, or should I?"

The general was obviously upset, and she was pretty sure it would be better for him if she took the lead. It would certainly lessen the blow to Hank. But, her back hurt and she wasn't in the mood to talk. She wanted to see where this would go, besides.

"By all means," no longer hiding her wild space accent, she gestured to let the man speak

"Wilt Lox, Janu Conners, Stormtroopers BT-8429 and KL-2487," Hux listed off the other conspirators, "Lori has been quite the effective agent. I'm not surprised that you never suspected her."

Heavy silence came from the speaker, it bore the weight of a betrayed man. Through the video feed Hank didn't see the meek but helpful supply officer. Instead he was left to look into the eyes of a friend turned traitor. Even harder for him to wrap his head around was the physical closeness of the general and the captain. It was one thing to have been sold out for some reward, but another thing entirely to have been played by someone genuinely fond of the general.

Hux went on, "I'm sure that hideous grin is gone now, Vaylor. Shame that I won't be back to see you without it," the generals arm moved slightly over Lori's shoulder and he looked at her with a tilt of the head, "do you have any final words for your former co-conspirator?"

Lori knew Hux was being overdramatic, but she was happy to let him have his moment. Hank had been fine enough to talk to, but he was little more than a dead man now.

"Shame it had to come to this, Hank. Can't say it was anything personal, Hux here just got to me first. Thanks for the report by the way, not sure I'd be here if you hadn't done what you did."

Hank took the last of Lori's words as a cruel barb, though he wasn't sure what exactly she meant. Hux could appreciate the meaning behind what Lori said. Without her reading the report, last night never would have happened. Without that vulnerable moment bringing them closer together there was no way they would have even considered today's plan.

Today's plan that revealed its own urgent problems.

Hux spoke, "As much as I would love to stay here and rub Vaylor's face in it, we have more important matters."

Just before the general shut off the camera Lori got in one last comment.

"Sorry Hank, I'll tell Cray you told her so."

Spurred by that last petty comment, Hank began to finally talk back. He was cut off when the speaker powered down.

Once the camera was off, Lori did what she could to straighten her uniform back to its original place. Her hair would be a losing battle, so she did the best she could in tucking it back under her hat.

Hux would have taken a moment to ask about Lori's comment about captain Cray, but he had more urgent matters.

"Go back to your suite. Keep an eye out for a message, be ready to leave for the _Absolution_ very soon." The general took a steps towards the open door

Lori was close behind him, "Armie, hey. What are we doing about Cardinal? Let's say he gets the report, then what?"

Cardinal was a capable commander. Hux's first fear was losing a whole ship and crew to the man, directly below that he worried that the captain might flee the First Order and join a Resistance cell in search of revenge.

"We try and keep him in line. If that doesn't work, well, his armor may be blaster resistant but without it he's just as vulnerable as the rest of us."

Lori didn't like planning a murder out loud, but if that's what it came too she wouldn't try and talk Hux out of it.

They quickly made down a hall.

Still telling herself she wasn't invested in the First Orders ideas or goals, Lori couldn't help but find herself worrying that it all might come crumbling down. Severe and unwelcoming though it might be, she had lived a better life in these last few weeks than she had in all her time roaming the New Republic.

Lori wasn't about to put her life on the line for something bigger than herself but, if she had to, she might pick up a blaster to defend her new found way of life.


	24. Urgent Meetings

AN: Thanks for sticking around this far into the story. Quick update, I'm _mostly_ finished writing and the final chapter count will be 30. I'll be keeping the same M/W/F schedule until then. I also started work on the sequel, so there shouldn't be too much of a delay between this fic finishing and the next one starting. Thanks for reading and I hope ya'll will be back for the next one.

.***.***.***.***.

The chrono read 2200, Quin and Vanya were still awake and chattering over a cup of caf. Sydney had walked into her house to find both of them in the kitchen and had been trying to leave for her room for the last few hours.

"She calls him Armie!" Vanya recounted what she and Quin had overheard for what Sydney felt like was the thirtieth time.

"So you've been saying. Look, what Lori does on her time off is none of our business. Doubly so if it involves the general."

"But Sydney, don't you want to know how it that happened?" Quin pipped up from the side of the bar.

"No! No I do not. For the last time, I'm going to bed." The captain took a step around Vanya and toward her room.

Before she made it very far, and before Quin or Vanya had the chance to make another comment, the front door slid open. All three quickly glanced at the newcomer.

The first thing they noticed was that Lori was alone. The second thing they noticed was how she was dressed.

She and the general had taken their separate paths just before they got near the living quarters. Since it was still an hour until the end of fourth shift, the halls were thankfully empty. On the walk, both Lori and Hux had been silent, being careful not to attract any attention. Lori didn't know how long she would have until Hux sent his next set of instructions, finding all three of her roommates awake and waiting for her didn't give her much hope for a full night's sleep.

The door shut. No one said a thing, but Lori knew she wasn't going to make it to the bedroom without a conversation.

"Ok, just say it." she was only looking for a way to make this quick.

"Goodnight." Sydney was the first to speak, already taking steps toward her room.

Before Vanya or Quin had the chance to be heard, the door to the captain's bedroom was already sliding shut.

That left the three of them, Lori was half wondering if she could do something similar.

Vanya spoke next, "Where did you go?"

"That's a good question, but I'm not answering it." Lori could just give a flat out lie, but it would only be a matter of time before she started contradicting herself.

The lieutenant was about to retort back with her best guess. She and Quin had been making wild assumptions all night long and some of them were extremely personal. Quin didn't want to let Vanya over step herself so she cut her off.

"How long have you been dating?" it wasn't exactly a change in topics, but they both wanted to know besides.

Lori went to the kitchen. Tired from the long day, she would have loved nothing more than to go to sleep, but a cup of hot caf would have to do.

Pouring herself a cup Lori replied, "We're not dating."

"You sure?" Vanya wasn't buying it, "'I love you' seems like a third date kind of thing, at least."

"I've had a long day guys," Lori was trying to steer the conversation into a place where she could get out of it.

Quin felt kind of bad about prying, and she worried about pushing Loir too far besides. Vanya, however, was more than ready to let her curiosity cause some trouble.

"Cool, but I need to know the details. Please? You know I'm just going to get more annoying if you don't tell me."

Lori knew Vanya wasn't bluffing. Still, she wasn't about to give a purely unedited version of events to her roommates.

"Fine," she let Vanya think she had won something, "we started talking a month ago."

"While you were on the _Absolution_?" Quin interjected.

Lori did a quick mental check over the time line, "yes."

"Are you saying you transferred ships just to stay with him?" Vanya drew her own conclusions.

"Well, I wouldn't say _just_ to stay with him, but it was convenient."

Quin wasn't going to say it out loud, but she thought it was a hopelessly romantic gesture. Lori took a sip of her drink, waiting for one of them to make the next move.

Vanya didn't let the silence sit for long, "So, like. How did that happen? You just ran into in the hall one day and hit it off?"

"It's a long story," more than aware that she couldn't give them the real course of events, she was trying to piece something together that wouldn't be too damning if it got out.

"I got time," Vanya settled against the bar and looked expectantly to Lori.

"No offense, but you've got a big mouth too," Lori pushed back a little, careful to sound more lighthearted than serious, "tell you what, both of you swear not to tell anyone, and I'll talk."

Quin thought Lori was being completely reasonable. In fact she was surprised that her roommate was willing to talk at all, "really? I don't mean to pry-"

"Let her talk." Vanya cut Quin off.

Things were just starting to get where Lori wanted them, "before I do, this doesn't leave the room. Ok?"

Vanya thought about it for a minute.

Before she came up with some new bad idea, Lori spoke again.

"Vanya, please. I don't want anyone to know. You know how people talk, and I don't want anyone treating me different," Lori paused, pretending to consider her last words, "for better or worse."

Quin didn't quite follow, "for better or worse?"

Vanya knew exactly what Lori was implying, and she didn't question it for a second. Actually, taking the time to fill Quin in only made her more convinced that Lori's fears were well founded.

"You're breaking my heart Quin." The brown haired lieutenant began, "half the people on the ship hate Hux, and I can definitely see them treating Lori like crap out of petty revenge. Everyone else is a total suck up."

"Then you see where I'm coming from on this one," Lori jumped into the conversation before anyone moved on to a different topic, "please, please don't mention it to anyone."

Quin was quick to comply, "Sure. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Satisfied with Quin, and knowing that the blond lieutenant didn't have a malicious bone in her body besides, Lori looked to Vanya. After a second of silence, Quin looked to her as well.

"Fine," she buckled under the combined weight of their gazes, "I won't tell anyone, but I want all the juicy details. In real time."

With as much acting as she had done earlier in the day, it wasn't difficult for Lori to hide a little smile. Her roommates were going to be no trouble at all.

"Thanks," Lori dropped some tension from her shoulders, "you have no idea how much better that makes me feel."

.***.***.***.***.

The walk back to Hux's suite was short. Not a second after he was alone in his living room, the general made for his office with a series of orders and messages on his mind. He thought the computer was slow to turn on, but that was only because his thoughts were racing.

On the bright side, Hux had someone who was more than just an ally to rely on. The realization would have brought some joy to him, if it weren't for the heavy clouds that Vaylor's words had brought to him.

Captain Cardinal had a copy of the report, or he was seconds away from receiving one.

The computer finally powered on, Hux quickly skimmed through his messages. None were from the captain. That did nothing to make the general feel better, he doubted that Cardinal's first response to the news would be a calmly written letter.

A final notice for a meeting of First Order high command had gone unread. Cursing his luck for yet another urgent matter to attend to, Hux skimmed through it.

His heart sank while he did. Lori hadn't uncovered the reason, but she mentioned that the conspiracy had a one week dead line to get the information to Cardinal. The date coincided with that for the meeting.

Quickly connecting the dots, the next phase of the conspiracies plan became clear. Once Cardinal read that report there wasn't a chance that he would be working with Hux. He would try to bring the report before the rest of High Command, depending on who showed up to the meeting and what exactly Cardinal said, he might manage to create a fissure. None of the highest ranking members of the First Order military really liked each other, and there was an especially noticeable divide between the former Imperials and the younger generation.

If it came out that Armitage had Brendol killed, that may be what divided the two groups permanently. At the very least, the older officers would be calling for his head. If enough of them joined in, not even Snokes influence would spare Hux.

Knowing that it wouldn't make him feel better, but desperate for something he could call progress or revenge, the general sent a message to the FOSB:

"Have Captain Mina Cray, Logistics officer aboard the _Finalizer_, arrested immediately. Charges: treason against the First Order and conspiracy to commit murder. Take her to interrogation block B for further questioning."

Despite knowing that the FOSB would be slow to respond, Hux sent the all clear signal to the interrogators:

"Return to your positions, former sergeant Hank Vaylor has outlived his usefulness, execute immediately in the most convenient fashion. Then return to business as usual."

With as much as the general would have loved to take out his cruelties on Hank, he knew it was more a risk to keep the man alive. Especially since he knew about Lori's status as a double agent. Quickly shifting gears back to thoughts of the meeting, Hux checked his schedule. He hadn't been planning on going, not only because he had more important matters, but also because it was to take place on the _Absolution_.

Canceling his other plans and sending out orders for transportation to be arranged to the _Absolution_, Hux cursed at his luck. Ren was due to return from his mystery mission tomorrow. Hux loathed the idea of leaving the _Finalizer _without a commander, but he hated leaving Ren alone at the helm even more.

Telling himself to never mind the force user, the general put the final touches on his orders. He didn't hesitate for a second before adding a second name to the passenger list. The last thing that he could do damage control wise was send word to Lori.

"As far as the _Absolution_ is concerned, you're my aid. 1000, hangar bay seven."

After hitting send the general considered pouring himself a stiff drink. The thought didn't last long, a second look at his inbox reminding the man that he still had his normal work load to keep up with.

Hoping that he would still be at the head of all his projects after tomorrow, the general went back to business as usual.


	25. The Absolution

Lori didn't recognize the pilot. Wilt usually flew out of hangar bay three, but she had still been worried that she might run into him. She had to put in a last minute sick day request to avoid coming into work, but no one had challenged her.

Hux arrived exactly at 1000 and didn't spare any time in greeting before stepping onto the upsilon shuttle. Lori followed behind, doing what she could not to stand out.

No one questioned that the general was taking an aid to an important meeting. More than a few of the junior officers had been stuck with the role before. As far as they were concerned, the job mostly consisted of being asked for impossibly specific information with no time to find it, and then being yelled at when they inevitably failed.

The loading ramp retracted when the only two passengers stepped aboard. Despite the door to the cockpit being shut, neither said a word to the other until the ship had left the hangar.

When they did. They spoke in hushed tones.

"Hey, Armie, we'll figure this out."

Hux knew she was trying to be comforting, but he wasn't in the mood to be in a good mood.

Lori understood that, but she didn't see the point in being miserable just for the sake of it.

"What's the plan?" she went on, "I get that we're silencing Cardinal, but how do you want it done."

_Shooting him and being done with it sounds ideal_, the general thought to himself. Knowing that that would only cause more problems, Hux went with his second choice.

"Quietly. We can't afford open confrontation, not in front of the rest of High Command. I'll do what I can in the meeting, but I need you to find the other copies and destroy them. Reputable as he may be, no one will risk siding with Cardinal if he can't produce proof."

Lori didn't really know where to start in finding the other disks, but she also knew that not finding them wasn't an option.

"Understood," she was cobbling together a plan with each word, "I got an idea, but I might have to be heavy handed with my general's aid position."

Hux knew he didn't have to worry about what Lori might be up to. The trust was new to him, but it felt like an old comfort.

"Do what you must. I trust you."

Lori heard the significance in the Hux's words. More often than not, people only went with her plans because they had no other choice. Even then, she had been no stranger to asking forgiveness rather than permission. The knowledge that Hux would demand neither from her moved her almost as much as the three small words they had shared in her bedroom.

She looked at the general. He tried to keep the impression that he wasn't worried, but she could see doubt eating at him.

"Thank you," she told him, voice low and soft, "I promise I won't disappoint."

He looked back to her, mood lifting despite his stubborn decision to be miserable, "You haven't yet."

The ship rocked slightly. The pilot's voice came crackling over the intercom, "ETA is 20 minutes."

Neither of them had realized how long they had been sitting in silence before beginning their talk.

Lori gave a huff that could have been a laugh under different conditions, "You know, one of these days we won't have to go running off just when things start heating up."

Hux smirked, "I look forward to it."

.***.***.***.***.

The _Absolution_ was just as Lori remembered it. Despite living on resurgent-class ships for the last month she had only seen them from the outside once. The figure was just as imposing now as it had been the first time, but she said nothing for it.

When Hux looked to the ship he saw the tiny differences it had compared to the _Finalizer._ None of them inspired awe or anything else that he could pretend was positive.

The landing was smooth. When the general and his aid left the ship, no one suspected anything was out of the ordinary. Hux had been assigned back to his father's old quarters. Whether or not this was more of a slight than it usually was or if it meant that Cardinal hadn't read the report yet, the general wasn't sure. Lori had been assigned, much to her amusement, to the previously empty room she had hidden in durring her week as a stowaway. The two parted ways with little ceremony, each with their own plans with what to do with the rest of the day.

Not a second after Lori made it to her suite did she find a message waiting for on her data pad. Hux had forwarded her a list of attendees for the meeting. Most names she only recognized from reports and random chatter, she didn't expect to find any leads among them any ways.

Before her short term roommate appeared, Lori slipped back out of the door. The plan had been for Hank to arrive in hangar bay two. It only made sense that his contact would be there. She only had one day to find the conspiracy aboard the _Absolution_, but Lori had always enjoyed a challenge.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux found himself alone in the commander's suite. He had wasted no time in sending a list of names and ranks to Lori. He hoped it would be of some use, but he doubted it. Looking over the names himself, he tried desperately to come up with a plan for them.

General Enric Pryde would be there, to Hux's distain. He'd served under the empire so many years ago, and claimed to have fought beside Darth Vader himself on one occasion. Never mind that he was head-strong and entertained –and even encouraged- Snoke's ideas about the force.

Captain Canady would be there as well. Honorable to a fault, he had never been fond of the younger Hux. The feeling was mutual and Armitage only tolerated him because he was more than capable as a dreadnaught commander.

Hux didn't expect to see Phasma on the list. She had been on special assignment, and if he weren't mistaken she still should be. Not actually part of High Command, there was only one reason he could think of for her to be invited.

Phasma had been the trigger woman for the hit on Brendol. She had supplied the beetle and been the one to release it into his quarters.

This could only mean that Cardinal knew.

Hux searched the list for any potential allies. Two more imperial era officers would be there. That left a total of four elders compared to Hux, Phasma, and two others that had only just gained a seat in High Command.

Before Hux had too long to worry about it, a knock came from the door. Gritting his teeth, he went to answer it.

Captain Cardinal stood with a straight back and his head held high. Armor a bright red, Hux was left to glare down at the man's unexpressive helmet.

"General Hux." He carried an air of formality to his words.

"Cardinal." The general did not.

"May I come in."

Hux didn't miss that it was more a demand than a question. He didn't think that the captain would be so brazen as to kill him for revenge, but the thought still pricked at the back of his mind.

"No."

There was a slight tilt of the Stormtroopers helmet, "this conversation isn't fit for the hallway."

Hux knew better than to take the captains words as a peace offering. He had come here with an accusation of murder on his lips. Unlike Lori, this wouldn't turn into a point of bonding for the two men.

Still, Hux had to remind himself that the captain didn't actually know that Hux was aware that he had read the report. There was no reason that Hux should be extra guarded, as far as the captain knew.

"Is that so?" he went on being as obtuse as Cardinal should have come to expect, but he didn't give a hint as to what he knew.

"Yes." Cardinal answered simply, his word carrying a hint of static from the voice regulator in his helmet.

Hux pretended to consider his options for a moment. In reality he was wondering if there were some way he could talk the captain down. Or better yet, find out where he had stored the report and its spare copies.

"Very well, enter if you must." Hux stepped back to let Cardinal into the room.

The red-clad man didn't sit, instead opting to stand at the end of the bar. He said nothing, and Hux was about to make a harsh comment before the captain puled a small disk from a pouch on his belt. He placed it on the counter, his blank helmet showing none of the twisting emotions beneath.

Hux kept his real thoughts from his features, instead letting simple annoyance take the lead, "I take it you have something you'd like to share."

The captain tapped a gloved finger against the table, "Dated four years ago. Concerning the Death of Brendol Hux."

The edge of Hux's mouth twitched with an angry retort. The trooper took his own meaning from it and took off his helmet. He wanted to look the murderer of his mentor, and the only father figure he had ever known, in the eye.

"Did you expect some sort of reaction from me, Cardinal?"

Captain Cardinal didn't shout, but only barely, "You murdered Brendol! I always knew you were a cruel piece of shit, but your own father?"

"And he deserved it. Is that what you want to hear?" Hux knew better than to expect the understanding he had found in Lori. He hated the trooper and his blinding optimism. He loathed that Cardinal had found a father where he couldn't.

"He was a great man, I don't know why he was cursed with something like you for a son." Cardinal looked Armitage in the eye, hatred boiling over and twisting his features.

Any thought of cleverly finding the rest of the copies, or of talking the captain down was long gone from Hux's mind. Really, the captain was lucky that Hux didn't carry a side arm with him. Left with nothing physical to strike out with, Hux went with the cruelest things he could possibly say.

"Cardinal, you're an idiot. My father knew it, and so do I. He only kept you along because you're so hopelessly easy to manipulate. And when you had outlived your usefulness he replaced you with Phasma without a second thought."

Phasma had taken over as Brendol's personal body guard less than a year before his death. Cardinal had felt deep pangs of jealously when he saw that she had earned her own set of custom armor from Brendol, but he refused to let the younger Hux's words get to him.

"He handpicked me on Jakku, trained me himself." He spat back, "I was infinitely loyal. From the time I first put on this armor, he trusted me to keep him safe. He designed it himself because he said red was a color of power. Every moment he spent in my company, he knew he was safe."

"Well you obviously didn't do a very good job, because he's dead." Hux's words came out with a scoff.

"Because of you!" now Cardinal shouted, "Why? Why did you kill him? Was it for power? Was it because you're just sick and broken?"

"My reasons are my own. I wouldn't expect you to understand besides." No one did, except for Lori.

That wasn't enough of an explanation for Cardinal, "Oh, I get it. You're not just a spoiled brat, you're an evil patricidal maniac."

"Enough!" the general took a step forward.

"Oh, you don't like it when people see you for who you really are? The rest of High Command will hear about this. Damn it, Hux, they'll all hear about your crimes."

"And not one of them will believe a word you say. A lowly captain's word against a generals, you're nothing Cardinal. You were nothing on Jekku, and you're nothing in the First Order. Nothing besides father's second biggest mistake."

"His biggest mistake being you." The captain thought he was lashing out, but it was nothing Hux hadn't already told himself.

"Get out of my quarters, Cardinal." The general grinned something twisted and evil, "Before I decide you're as big a nuisance as father was."

"You get one chance to tell them before I do. You better take it, or I'll force the confession out of you."

"Really? A threat? I thought you held yourself to a higher standard than that."

He picked up his helmet, but left the data disk, "take the time to read over your crimes. I hope they tear you up inside, but I don't think creatures like you know how to feel remorse."

The general let the captain go.

He could feel just as well as anyone else on the ship. Anger, rage, loathing. On the rare occasion that remorse was called for he could even muster that. But now, now the general was left to plot. Dwelling on every bitter emotion that had slipped out of the dark corners of his mind, he decided it wasn't just enough to silence the captain.

Armitage was going to brake the man.


	26. A Lowly Aid

AN: Hello again, hope everyone's doing alright out there. Just a bit of an update: the last chapter should be going up next Friday (April 3). My current plan is to start posting the sequel on April 13 (maybe sooner if I get a chance to write ahead). I'll put up a definite date when I post Ch.30.  
Anyhow, thanks for reading (and reviewing), stay safe out there.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori's walk to hanger bay two was long, be it went quickly. She didn't want to be heavy handed, but she didn't have the time to be clever. A clerk should be on duty, their station was in the same place in ever bay and on every ship.

Knowing where to go before she even got there, Lori finally started to appreciate the uniformity that the First Order was obsessed with.

"Lieutenant," she called out to the man sitting at the desk, not taking time to slow in her walk towards him.

The younger man looked up, not recognizing the new comer, and not expecting anyone to be talking to him at all.

Lori stopped just short of the table, "I'm general Hux's aid. I need the shipping manifestoes for this hanger from two days ago."

The lieutenant immediately started mentally cursing his luck. He knew that it was the _Absolution_s turn to host some sort of meeting for High Command, but he had been hoping that none of them would find an excuse to come crawling through his hangar bay.

He knew better than to be difficult when any of the higher ups asked for information, and Hux in particular wasn't someone he wanted to upset.

"Yes ma'am," the lieutenant didn't bother questioning the woman.

While he scrolled through whatever system they were using, Lori glanced around the hangar. Mostly empty, save for the technicians refueling a squadron of TIEs, she worried that she might have a hard time finding the conspiracy. The door to the operations deck was open, but she couldn't see anyone inside from where she stood. Before she had long to wonder about it, the lieutenant was sliding a data chip across the table.

She didn't say thank you. It would have been odd for a rushed aid to take the time for small formalities. Wordlessly, she slipped the chip into her data pad and quickly scrolled through its files. She found the transfer that Hank would have been a part of. It was supposed to land in the middle of third shift. She checked the time.

Third shift would be over in an hour.

If she were going to find Hank's contact while they were still working, she didn't have long. Thinking quickly, she turned back to the lieutenant and asked him another question.

"I'm looking for a recent transfer, a sergeant named Hank Vaylor. His name isn't in any of the passenger lists, any idea why?"

The lieutenant's blank face only told Lori that he didn't want any more paperwork before his shift was over, "no ma'am."

"Is there any way I can find out where he might be posted?" she made an effort to appear just as annoyed as any aid to a notoriously harsh boss would be.

"I can help you with that," A new voice came from the side.

Quickly looking up, Lori found a woman with a squadron leaders ranks standing in the door frame to the operations deck.

More than relieved to let someone else handle the aid and any additional work she might make, the lieutenant wasn't about to stop captain Gallus as she began walking away from the table.

Lori stopped just short of the stairs and looked up to the new woman. Blonde hair and gray eyes, she held an intense air to her. Planning her next words carefully Lori started up the stairs.

"Great, I'm in a rush and I really need to talk to sergeant Vaylor."

The woman looked Lori up and down before stepping to the side to let her into the private room. No one else was in the operator's deck. Lori was working out her next move when the door slid shut behind her. If she weren't mistaken, the squad leader had to be related to the conspiracy somehow, there was no way she'd know who Hank was otherwise.

Turing around, Lori found the woman standing between her and the door. More importantly, she had picked up a blaster from a table and was now aiming it at Lori. She held the thing at the side of her waste, so that it wouldn't be seen by anyone in the bay below if they were to glance at the windows.

"Hank didn't make it, and you know it."

Lori wasn't entirely surprised. She was working out her next move when the woman kept in talking.

"What are you doing here?"

"Put the blaster down first, then we can talk." There wasn't much that threw Lori off balance, but a clear line of sight down the barrel of a blaster got pretty close.

The squad leader gestured to a chair, "How about you sit down and we try that again."

Begrudgingly, Lori took the seat. The movement gave her a moment to look away from the gun and come up with an idea. Landing heavily in the chair she looked back to the woman.

"Mina sent me. The whole operations in danger, I'm here to help."

Lori saw a hint of recognition flash over the woman's features, but she didn't say anything for it. Taking her chances Lori went on.

"I know Hank didn't make it, but his message did. That's why I'm here."

The squad leader leaned against a counter, still keeping that blaster trained on Lori, "Bold words coming from general Hux's aid."

"Look, I don't have time to explain every little thing. You're in danger and we didn't have the time to work out a clever way to warn you, so I volunteered to take one for the team."

Lori was trying to play a delicate game, but she thought she saw the woman's thoughts turning in just the way she wanted them to.

She went on talking, "The general knows we got the report to Cardinal and he's got agents crawling all over the place looking for it."

With that, Lori could see the woman coming around to her point of view.

Though she was still guarded, "How do I know you're not one of them?"

"Really?" Lori did her best to fake indignation and then seemingly struggle to put it away, "The general's aid might be the shitty-est possible cover story for someone trying to find us. Also, there's no way I'm going to make it out alive on this one. The general is going to figure out I'm with the Resistance. I came with a warning, the least you can do is take it."

Lori saw the squad leader debating herself. After too long a moment, she finally turned the blaster away from Lori.

"Fine. I'm listening."

Disguising her relieved sigh as one of mild annoyance, Lori went on.

"I hope you do more than just that. They got Hank, and Hux knows about the backup copies too. Please tell me you got them stashed away somewhere safe."

"Don't worry about what we do with the spare copy." She was still guarded.

Lori took a gamble, "_the_ spare copy. As in just one?"

She watched the woman try to hide a quick flash of worry. Lori might have missed it if she hadn't been dealing with the overly guarded general for the last month and a half.

"We got two copies. One stayed with us, the other went straight to Cardinal."

"And you didn't immediately make backups? What kind of show are you people running?" the gamble was paying off.

The squad leader was predictably offended, "Hey, we do the best job we can with what we get. It's not our fault it took your crew an extra week to get us the disk."

With that move successfully made, Lori went on to the next step of her plan, "Hank is dead, squad leader… you haven't even told me your name."

"It's Orin. I haven't caught yours either, captain."

"The name's Zoe Formi," Lori went with a fake, she doubted she would be on the ship long enough for them to look it up but she wanted to be able to make a clean get away besides, "Look Orin, I don't mean to come out here and start telling you how to run your people. But I just lost a friend and we can't afford to let this operation fail. I owe it to Hank."

Lori had done a few things in her response. Giving a full name did something to close the distance between the two of them, it was always easier to trust someone when you think you know them. The apology was another calculated step. Orin had put her guard up, and having a reason to drop it so soon after was destabilizing no matter the situation. Calling the conspiracy on the _Absolution_ 'her people' was an appeal to any ego Orin might have, while immediately mentioning a friend who died for this job appealed to her soft side.

Putting all those elements so close together found and widened a hole in Orin's guard.

She moved her head to the side, looking away from Lori for the first time since the conversation began, "we've lost good people too. I get that you're worried, hopping a ship and making sure the job gets done sounds like something I'd do."

"Then help me help you. We don't know how long ago Hux learned about the other copies, but it couldn't have been more than a day or two. Has anyone joined up in that time?"

Orin thought about it, completely discounting the fact that Lori was the only new comer, "No, it's been quite on our side."

"That's a relief," Lori dropped some tension from her shoulders, "How did Cardinal take the report?"

The squad leader smirked, "We made it an anonymous drop off. He forgets to lock his office door."

"Too bad, I would have paid a lot of money to see the look on his face when he read it."

"Have you?" the little bit of self-satisfaction on Orin's face gave way to a question, "read the report, I mean."

With that, Lori saw an opportunity to press on, "Of course I have, you haven't?"

Asking outright where Orin and her section of the conspiracy put their copy would be suspicious, but if Lori's plan worked, than she might be able to get Orin to mention it first.

"No. You didn't think that would be risky?"

"Of course it, but so is everything else," Lori pushed her luck once again, "wait. If you haven't read it… You have no idea how much danger Cardinal is in right now."

"What?"

"You dropped the report off anonymously, you have no idea… Long story, but Hux murdered his father. He's probably planning the same thing for Cardinal right now!"

Lori put just enough stress on the last of her words to work Orin into a slight panic. She didn't want to walk around telling anyone who would listen about the generals past deeds, but if her plan ended the way she expected it too, than Orin wouldn't be alive to tell anyone for much longer.

"Hold on, what?" Orin bought the act.

"Little Hux murdered older Hux. What else would make Cardinal flip on the First Order?"

"Anything? He's basically a good person." Lori watched a few different thoughts pass just behind the squad leader's eyes, "Shit, I have to tell Mako."

"Wait, wait, wait. Who's Mako? What's your plan?"

Thoroughly distracted by the sudden revelation, Orin didn't notice for a second that Lori had started fishing for information.

"Mako's the ring leader on the _Absolution_. We were going to just sit back and let Cardinal walk into tomorrow's meeting."

"If he lives that long," Lori cut her off, "Actually, no. Cardinal knows what he's doing. You weren't going to-"

After cutting the squad leader off, Lori was interrupted by the chiming of her data pad. Both women looked at the thing, it blinked green as a signal that a message was waiting. Lori knew the message could only be from Hux. Orin made a similar assumption, though she only thought it would be a routine order from a general to his aid.

Lori huffed in mock annoyance before making to check the data pad, "give me a second."

She tried not to make it obvious that she was angling it away from Orin. Hux had always been good about keeping his messages short and general to the point that no one besides the two of them could guess at their meaning, but Lori didn't want to risk making Orin suspicious. Especially not after she had only just got the squad leader to start talking to her.

As it was, she was only checking the message now because Hux had a reputation as a difficult boss on a good day and as an unholy terror on a bad one.

Lori read the words on the screen. Realizing that she could use them to her advantage she dropped the angle at which she held the pad.

Orin could just make out the words on the captains data pad: "Captain Cardinal payed a visit. Meet at my quarters. Now."

Taking an opportunity where she saw one, Lori spoke first.

"Shit," she looked up at Orin.

The squad leader saw what she assumed to be worry and poorly hidden panic on the captain's features. In reality, it was all a careful act.

Continuing on with more fake worry, Lori spoke again, "I was just about to ask if you were planning to leave Cardinal all alone tomorrow. After this message, I'd say that Hux knows and he knows that Cardinal knows too."

Orin considered her options. Part of her would have known better than to just give information to someone who might be about to walk into a trap, but the rest of her saw a friend in need of good news.

"Actually, Mako and I were going to run back up for Cardinal. His notes said that he would have friends to call on during the meeting. If worse comes to worse, we'll be ready and waiting to send him a copy of the file."

"The firewall will catch that in a second. The rest of High Command will have troopers on you before you're even out the door," Lori didn't have to hide the realization that doing what Orin described would be a suicide mission.

"Sure, we'll get shot to space dust. But everyone else will see proof of what Cardinal tells them. Besides, he may not even need us. Not as long as he kept his copy on him," Orin tried to keep a brave face in spite of her next words, "You're risking it all being here, and so are we."

As far as Orin knew, that was absolutely true.

Lori played on that belief.

"Let me be there," she spoke quickly, "please. Whether Cardinal flips and takes half of high command with him or not, I'm probably not going to make it to next week. It'll be nice to go out knowing that I was there when it mattered."

Orin didn't like talking as if they were already dead. She didn't like confronting the end, no matter how close it looked.

"Hey. We're going to be fine. You said the general murdered his own father, there's no way High Command stays in one piece after that news gets dropped on them."

Lori didn't worry that she was losing the squad leader, but she let some emotion that looked like it coat her features.

"I hope not, but if Cardinal drops the ball, and they need to see that report, I want to be the one to send it in."

Orin considered it for a moment. Lori made a final comment to push her into agreeing.

"Hank couldn't deliver the message, let me do this for him."

With that, the squad leader couldn't say no. She though back to the friends and contacts they had lost. What it would mean to her to pick up the struggle where a fallen friend had left off was beyond words.

"Fine. Ten minutes before the meeting. Communications office 285-C."

Lori gave a small smile. Purposely fragile with a little bit of strength behind it that looked forced.

"Thank you. If I don't show up, don't wait for me. I'm probably dead and it was probably Hux's doing."

"You'll be there," Once again, the squad leader tried to stave off thoughts of death.

Lori noticed. If she were more sympathetic to Orin or her cause, she might have felt bad. Unfortunately for the Resistance, the bounty hunter already had her mind made up as to where her loyalty laid.

Standing from the chair, Lori clutched the data pad tightly enough to turn her knuckles white, "Looks like I've got a meeting with the general. I'll see you on the other side."

Orin nodded, trying and failing not to have a grim look about her.

Without another word, Lori left the operators deck and quickly made for the hall. No one passing her had a clue that anything was amiss. They didn't see the self-satisfaction in a job well done on the captain's features. They didn't see the hint of worry over the general's sudden request for company. They didn't see that captain Gallus was thinking of the little blaster she had stored in her quarters.

She hadn't the chance to bring her old gear along when she transferred to the _Finalizer_. When Lori first returned to her old quarters, she found that no one had been into the old bedroom. Her old cloths and old tools were still wrapped into a tight bundle and push against the wall under the bed.

The blaster was small enough to slip under her tunic without leaving a telltale bulge. After a nights practice, Lori was sure that she would be able to quickly slip it out from under her tunic.


	27. A Meeting With the General

General Hux checked the time. He had sent his message to Lori nearly half an hour ago. He tapped a finger against the table, the sound of it giving voice to annoyance and worry both. It wasn't like her to take so long.

Armitage told himself that she just hadn't checked her data pad. The possibility that she had found, and then gotten in over her head with, the Resistance cell on the _Absolution_ picked at him. He checked the time again.

The data disk sat on the bar. Hux picked it up, looking for anything to focus on besides the time. It was a little thing. It annoyed him that something so small could hold a secret big enough to be his undoing. Having no need for it, he snapped it in half against the counter top. It didn't take much pressure to pop the plastic circuit board against the table, but the little bit of force was just enough to cut his thumb where it slid against a jagged edge.

Cursing his luck, the general held his thumb to slow the bleeding.

He considered grabbing the little med kit from the cupboard. Before he got the chance, the front door finally slid open. Sitting up straight in his seat, Hux waited until Lori was in the room and the door was firmly shut before saying anything.

He spoke first, "Cardinal is a dead man walking."

Lori had her own news, but the look on Hux's face told her it could wait, "I take it ya'll's chat went well."

Hux knew he couldn't murder the captain outright. He also knew that Lori was aware of that fact too, but it still felt nice to have someone play along.

He glanced at the broken data chip on the table, "He knows, and in his mind I'm going to be the one to tell the rest of high command about it."

"That's brazen of him," Lori followed Hux's line of sight to the broken disk, "wait. Is that…"

"A copy of the report." Hux finished her thought, "Cardinal thought leaving it here would weigh on my conscience."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed at the thought. The comment brought a small grin to Lori's lips. The general saw the shift, and it would have been impossible for him to miss the roguish glint in her eye.

"Cardinal's an idiot." Lori said.

The display and her words piqued the general's interest and almost lifted is mood, "I certainly told him as much."

Lori took a seat on the other stool at the bar. She idly picked at the remains of the chip on the table.

"Do you want the good news first, or the even better news?"

There was something Hux wasn't used to hearing. He hadn't seen Lori this sure of herself since she came to him with the names of the traitor ring in the _Finalizer_.

With anyone else he would have demanded they stop playing games and get on with it, but with Lori the little struggle for information was part of the appeal.

"Surprise me." he went with a non-answer.

Lori noticed. As much as she would have liked to draw the moment out, she wanted to see how quickly she could make the generals bad mood disappear.

"Control room 285-C. Ten minutes before your meeting I'll be meeting two Resistance agents," she held a piece of the broken data chip between her fingers, it had a tinge of red along one edge, "They think that Cardinal still has his copy on him, and they have the only remaining back up of the report with them."

Hux was almost speechless. He hadn't a clue how Lori had come by that information so quickly. How she found the Resistance, let alone get them to trust her enough to agree to a meeting was a mystery to him.

Lori went on telling him about their plan.

"A squad leader named Orin and a man named Mako will be waiting in the control room. They don't expect Cardinal to call them, but if he does then they'll send him their copy of the report."

One detail of the plan stuck out to Hux, "That would be suicide."

Lori shrugged, "They know that, but they're playing for keeps. Now that Cardinal threw away his copy, all you need to do is back him far enough into a corner that he calls out for help. I'll take care of the rest."

Hux mirrored the dangerous look in Loris eyes. Leaning into the moment he rested against the bar, laying one hand across its surface, "I don't suppose you'll tell me what exactly you plan to do."

She felt the conversation slipping away from business and back into one of their old games, "Ah-ah. I have to keep a few secrets up my sleeve. I can't risk you turning around and replacing me."

The general heard an echo of an old conversation. This time he was free to say what he really thought.

"I could never replace you."

Lori took comfort at the words. She had always been temporary, expendable, and easily forgotten. She assumed that she would live and die with no one suggesting otherwise. Taking a moment in the comfortable silence, Lori slid her hand over Armitage's.

Like the rest of the ship, he was cold. Hux didn't even try to keep himself from melting against Lori's touch. Physical and emotional warmth had always been a distance concept, but he was quickly realizing his craving for both.

"I guess I could give you a hint," she looked at him while she spoke.

"If you would be so kind," Hux didn't move away.

Keeping one hand firmly wrapped around his, Lori slipped her free hand between the fasteners of her tunic. Hux debated making a comment, but thought better of it. Besides, before he had one in mind, Lori's hand reappeared clutching a small blaster.

He hadn't noticed any difference in the fit of her uniform from the outside.

"That's a rather dirty trick, Lori."

She smirked a little before tucking the blaster back out of sight, "I suppose it is."

Still not used to being worried for another, and unsure of how to show it, Hux worked out what he was trying to say. Lori noticed the struggle, and let the general take his time.

He settled on a simple request, "Please, be careful."

She tightened her grip on the man's hand, "I will be as long as you are."

"Don't worry about me, I'm not the one bringing a blaster to a secret meeting."

Lori gave a half laugh at the situation, "you got me there. But still, try and keep yourself in one piece until after the meeting. It might be touch and go for a second."

The possibility of failure wasn't lost on the general, "I trust that you'll see us through."

There he went, giving Lori the benefit of the doubt again. She leaned against the words, savoring them for as long as she could.

"I better not let you down then."

"You won't."

With that, the two of them sat in silence for a few long moments. The bounty hunter had yet to have failed the general; he wasn't sure if he could say that for anyone else. Hux had given Lori a sympathetic ear and his complete trust; she wasn't sure if anyone else had even considered doing that.

The clock ticked on and their respective meetings came closer. A few small words made their way between the two, but nothing deeper grew from them. The weight of the future hung over them, and the darkness of the past clung to the walls of Brendol's suite. Both were content to wait until the perfect moment for their next move.


	28. First Order High Command

AN: I know we've been following Hux and Lori along on a nice little romance, but this is just a reminder that they're still the villains.

.***.***.***.***.

The time read 1145. Hux walked out of his suite and made for the meeting room. Lori left her room at the same time, bound for control room 285-C. Five minutes later, both reached their destinations.

Captain Cardinal sat at the far end of the table. Phasma sat facing the door, though she didn't react when Hux stepped into the room. On the same side of the room as Cardinal was general Pryde. He sat at the head of the table, much to Hux's annoyance. Armitage took a seat at the other head of the table, leaving Phasma directly to his right.

No one greeted each other, and an uneasy silence blanketed the room. The others began to slowly trickle in, a few with aids in tow. The minutes ticked by, and Hux could feel Cardinal staring at him. The captain wasn't wearing his helmet, but Hux wasn't going to meet his gaze. As far as anyone else in the room was concerned the general had no reason to pay Cardinal any special attention.

Hux wouldn't worriedly check the time, and he wasn't going to let himself nervously fidget.

When 1200 finally came, everyone that would be there had arrived. While Cardinal wasn't part of high command, his ship was hosting the meeting. Purely for protocols sake, he was supposed to open the meeting with a short speech.

Most of the senior officers weren't planning to pay Cardinal or his speech any mind. The captain didn't let their obvious disinterest dissuade him from his plans.

Standing from his seat, Cardinal began to speak.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, Phasma, before we begin today's conference, I believe that general Hux has something he'd like to share with the room."

Thoroughly confused by the odd opening, the rest of high command curiously turned their gaze to look at Hux.

Not surprised that Cardinal was being so brash, Hux didn't flinch. Internally he was cursing the captain and hoping that the handful of minutes had been long enough for Lori to put her plan in motion.

Doing what he could to keep his voice level Hux spoke, "You're mistaken, Cardinal."

The captain quickly glanced at Phasma and then back to Hux, "No I'm not. You have one chance to tell them before I do."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to." The general sat straight in his chair.

Before Cardinal had the chance to say what was on his mind, captain Canady spoke.

"What's the meaning of this? Cardinal, say what you mean."

The armor-clad man took one last look at Hux. When the young general did nothing but give a disdainful look in reply, the captain felt the last of his patience trickling away. Still determined to hear Hux admit to his crimes himself, the captain spoke to address the room at large.

"General Hux is a murderer. I hoped that he would admit to his crimes, but it seems that he's too cowardly to do even that."

Where the room had been confused, now they were fully invested in the unfolding events. Most of the room held mixed feelings. None of them doubted that Hux was cruel enough to kill in cold blood, but half didn't think that he would ever be one to get his hands dirty. More than anything, no one in the room was particularly distressed over an accusation of murder.

Despite that, at least one of the older officers saw this as a chance to get the younger –and in their opinion annoying- general out of the way.

"A grave accusation, Captain. Have you any proof?" general Enrich Pryde asked from the far end of the table.

Cardinal looked down at Hux, who had remained sitting.

Hux wasn't about to say a single word to Cardinal. He'd been long practiced in keeping his mouth shut, but he wasn't sure he wouldn't say something damning just to spite the captain.

"Well?" Pryde goaded.

"General?" Cardinal didn't look away from Hux.

_He can't think I brought the data card with me._ Hux thought.

Deciding that Cardinal really was an idiot who was far too idealistic, Hux took a moment to steady himself before speaking. The moment grew long, and more than one of the other officers was about to make a harsh comment.

None got the chance.

"I'm not sure what you're expecting from me, Cardinal. Surely you don't think that I would spontaneously produce evidence for a made up crime."

With a fresh comment, the crowed was willing to watch how the struggle was going to end. The captain wasn't surprised that his first plan had been foiled. He didn't think that Hux would ever be one to own up to the consequences of his actions, but part of him had wanted to believe that the younger Hux had some sense of honor.

Without hesitation, Cardinal pulled a comm from his belt and signaled his newly found friends, "Cardinal to control, send the file to meeting room 385-B."

The room looked to the display in the middle of the table. The moment stretched out before a light clicked on and the control room made its reply.

.***.***.***.***.

The weight of the little blaster tugged heavily on Lori as she walked. After leaving Hux's suite the night before, she had spent an hour practicing pulling it from its hiding spot. She had gotten the technique down by the ten minute mark, but she practiced past that.

Control room 285-C was only one floor down from the conference room. So long as no one tried to transfer a file from its control panel, no one would have any clue that it was even in use.

The hall was empty when Lori turned down it.

The control room, however, held two people. Orin stood to the left, a standard issue blaster strapped to her hip. To the right, and looming over a comm that sat on the control panel, was a man. Lori assumed he was Mako.

"Captain Formi," the squad leader greeted Lori with her fake name. If she had any suspicions, she didn't show them.

"Orin," Lori nodded at her before glancing at the other person in the room, "you must be Mako."

An enlisted man from his uniform, Lori had expected the ring leader on the _Absolution_ to be an officer. She took note of the oddity. Dark hair and eyes, he had a grave look to him. When he spoke his words had a slight shake to them that told just how nervous he was.

"Captain. Orin told me about you. Thanks for coming."

"Couldn't dream of being anywhere else." Lori stayed near the door.

It had been a long time since she had pulled a gun on anyone. Thinking her actions through before moving, she decided that Orin was the bigger priority. Lori didn't think she would react fast enough to grab her own gun, but she wasn't going to risk it.

A chrono on the wall said it was only five minutes until high command would start their meeting. Lori needed to move quickly. She knew any window she might have would be too small for comfort.

Mako stayed at the table. Orin looked to him to say something.

The second she turned her head, Lori slipped a hand into her tunic. Orin caught sight of the movement. Doing a double take out of confusion, Orin finished looking back just in time to see down the barrel of Lori's blaster.

She didn't have the time to comment before Lori pulled the trigger.

A blue ring that signaled a stun shot zapped across the room and crashed over the squad leader. She dropped to the ground with a blue ripple breaking over her skin.

"What the-!"

A second shot cut Mako off from the rest of his words.

The moment her second target hit the ground, Lori took a step towards them. Her blaster was only lethal at very close ranges, and its stun effected only lasted a couple of minutes. Putting her own gun on the table, she immediately took Orin's off her belt. Just after sliding the thing across the ground, Lori pulled her own belt from its place around her waist.

The pliable fabric would work as an impromptu gag. Having two targets, she made quick work of pulling Orin's belt from its place.

Two minutes had passed before she had her prisoners gagged. Only two more remained until the meeting began.

Wishing she had had time to practice her knot tying, Lori puled Mako's belt off of him and shoved his unconscious body around until she worked his tunic off too. Using the sleeves as impromptu rope she tied his legs together.

Time ticked on and the meeting a floor above began. Cardinal would be making his accusation just as Lori finished the last knot around Mako's legs. Her prisoners started coming to, Orin groaning and slowly coming to the realization that she was gagged.

Mako's belt went around one of Orin's feet. Lori was trying to tie the other in place when a voice came over Mako's comm.

"Cardinal to control, send the file to meeting room 385-B."

The voice stirred Orin into action. Becoming more awake with each passing second she shook and kicked. Lori had a loose knot around both of Orins feet, and only barely scrambled away from the woman's wild kicks.

The squad leader still had free hands. She rolled to the side and tried to push her way up. Lori moved first. She didn't try to stop Orin, she knew she wasn't going to win in a hand to hand fight. Instead she stood and took a hasty steps back.

Mako muttered something against this gag, but the sounds made no words. Orin turned around, ready to grab at Lori. When she did, she found the bounty hunter holding her own, high powered, blaster pistol.

"Get back on the ground." Lori took a step back towards the table, lengthening the distance between her and the partially tied resistance agents.

Orin didn't move, anger burning in her eyes. Lori had been right to think that the squad leader was the bigger threat.

There wasn't time to let an uneasy silence settle on the room. Lori kept the blaster and her gaze trained on Orin, but reached back for the comm.

"Either of you move, and you'll get a bolt through the head."

Mako stopped squirming on the floor. Orin stared daggers at Lori. Knowing better than to take her eyes off the squad leader, Lori clicked on the comm by feel.

"Control to Captain Cardinal, which file are you referring too?"

Not even a second passed after Lori's final word before she hit mute on the microphone. A stunned silence came from the other end of the comm, Lori wasn't sure if Cardinal didn't know what to say or if everyone else in the room was just too far away from the microphone. Either way, she made an ultimatum to Orin.

"I don't know if your blaster's set to stun or kill but if you don't get on the ground I'm going to find out."

The squad leader considered her options. Letting the double agent order her around infuriated Orin more than the betrayal did. The rebel never left her blaster on stun. If she hadn't already been shot, she might think that the officer was bluffing. Despite that, Orin now knew that captain Formi was a talented liar and found herself second guessing the captains threat.

Looking the blaster wielding women, Orin slowly crouched down.

"All the way down," Lori said from her place near the table, "both of you. Get on your stomachs, hands on the back of your heads."

The resistance agents were slow to move. Mako was in position by the time a second message came over the comm. Orin stopped to listen in on the conversation.

"_The_ file," everyone heard Cardinal's emphasis on the first word. He let the weight of it sink in before speaking again, "The one titled 'Concerning the Death of Brendol Hux'."

Lori had only met the man once, but she could imagine the look on his face and the state of the room after a bomb shell like that.

Keeping the comm on mute, Lori gave the control room a warning.

"Try anything, and I'll shot. I don't care if Cardinal hears it over the comm." Lori's last words were her first bluff of the day.

Mako didn't catch it. Orin thought she heard the captain slip

Flicking mute off but keeping the blaster trained on Orin, Lori spoke, "One moment sir, let me check our records."

She would wait for a minute. She was sure that Hux would want the time to make his own comments. Besides, she wanted time to get her prisoners secured. Lori wasn't just going to make the captain think the report was gone, she was going to destroy the final copy.

Clicking the comm back to mute, Lori spoke down to Orin.

"Last chance. You're face goes on the floor, or I shoot."

The squad leader listened and thought she had the captain figured out.

_If she were going to shoot, she would have done it already,_ Orin thought to herself.

Thinking that the captain must have some motive for keeping them alive, Orin didn't move. She wasn't about to listen to traitorous scum, especially not when she was about to ruin everything the resistance had worked toward on the _Absolution_. Not after good men and women had died to bring this information to Cardinal.

Taking her chances, Orin began to stand from her crouch.

Her body hit the round with a heavy thud.

Orin's blaster went off in Lori's hand. Room going bright with a sudden red flash, the bolt burned a hole through the squad leaders head. The sound of blaster fire hung in the room, leaving Lori and Mako's ears ringing. The bounty hunter didn't flinch at her deed. Mako tried to shout, his words little more than mutters against the belt in his mouth.

The other resistance agent moved to grab at Orin's body, as if he could still do something to save his dead friend.

Lori was quick to train the blaster on him.

She wanted to take at least one of them alive. Dead men told no tales, and she meant to find the rest of the resistance ring on the _Absolution_.

Mako clutched Orin. No doubt left in his mind that the captain would kill him, he didn't try to stand. Tears welled in his eyes and he found himself trying to shout over his gag instead.

An irritated voice came over the comm, "Cardinal to control…"

The bounty hunter looked at her only remaining prisoner, "You make a sound, and your next."

Mako wanted to be defiant. To make a last stand. But when he looked up, he didn't see a chance to be a brave man. He only saw down the barrel of a blaster, and the sight left him frozen in place.

As satisfied as she could be, Lori spoke into the comm, "I'm sorry Captain Cardinal, that file doesn't appear to exist on any of our systems."

"What! Look again."

"Yes sir, one moment please."

She hit mute once again and kept an eye on Mako. After this, it was only a matter of waiting until the end of the meeting and then getting a message to Hux.

Lori considered her options. She didn't think that the resistance man would try to charge her like Orin did, but it wouldn't be wise to look away from him long enough to pull out her own communicator.

Her own blaster sat on the table next to her. Realizing that it was still set on stun, Lori put a quick plan together.

As soon as she was finished talking to Cardinal, she would stun Mako again. Orin didn't need tying down now, and the belts would be better used to secure Mako's hands. Once the meeting was done it, all she needed to do was signal Hux.

Leaning against the desk, Lori settled in for her wait.

.***.***.***.***.

"Cardinal to control, send the file to meeting room 385-B."

The room looked to the display in the middle of the table. The moment stretched out for far too long before a light clicked on and the control room made its reply.

Lori's voice crackled over the speaker, "Control to Captain Cardinal, which file are you referring too?"

Hux tried to subdue a sinister smile. For as heavily as relief washed over him, he only managed to half way hide the shift in his features. Doing what he could to hide it, he twisted the grin into a slightly disgusted grimace.

Whatever response Cardinal had expected, that wasn't it. In the moment that he was stunned, Hux couldn't resist taking the chance to poke at the man.

"My, my Cardinal. I hadn't realized that you had conspirators aboard the _Absolution_. Why don't you get one of them to speak of my supposed crimes?"

Cardinal didn't know how much the general had learned. The captain knew that the report had to have been stolen at some point, but even he wasn't sure who was in on the conspiracy. Trying desperately not to let Hux's words get to him, Cardinal spoke into the comm once again.

"_The_ file," he looked around the room. Everyone else had gone silent, waiting to see who would come out on top of the conversation before picking a side.

Cardinal wasn't one to shy away from confrontation, nor was he about to leave here without Hux getting the punishment he deserved.

He continued speaking, "the one titled 'Concerning the Death of Brendol Hux'."

A ripple of mutters flowed across the room. An admiral looked to the captain, wondering if he was bluffing. General Pryde watched Hux for a reaction, but only found the same look of disdainful annoyance that the younger man seemed to always wear. Two younger officers whispered to each other, wondering if now was the time to pick sides.

Lori's voice crackled over the speaker once again, "One moment sir, let me check our records."

Hux took a moment to give another smug comment, "I'm disappointed Cardinal. If you were going to frame me for murder, you could have picked a more believable story than my own father."

Cardinal opened his mouth to rebut, but was cut off by Captain Canady, "Quite, you two. I'll wait for this file to come to light, but I won't listen to any bickering."

Canady had voiced exactly what the other former imperials were thinking, but he earned a venomous glare from Hux in the process.

Cardinal was more willing to yield to the older man's request, "My apologies, Captain Canady."

The older man huffed, but remained silent. He didn't mind Cardinal, but he loathed general Hux. He didn't doubt for a second that the younger Hux was monstrous enough to kill his own father, but he did doubt that he had the nerve to actually do it. Canady also didn't think that Hux was smart enough to have covered up the crime for so long.

Admiral Jindoh had a similar mindset, but she was less willing to patiently wait for Cardinals report to come to light. Hux had been a thorn in her side for as long as she could remember. Never mind that he was overseeing the research for experimental light-speed tech, and she wanted to head the project.

"I, for one, think that we should let Cardinal speak."

A new voice chimed in, "This is a sham. We shouldn't waist our valuable time on an impromptu trial."

The words belong to admiral Dahl. He saw now as the perfect time to get into Hux's good graces. While he was pretty sure the general was guilty, he was also sure that Hux would find a way out of trouble. Dahl wanted to be part of the winning team.

Before the admirals had time to start a fight of their own, Cardinal looked back to the communicator.

"Cardinal to control…" he desperately needed good news.

Another beat of time went by. The divide in high command growing deeper and more visible by the second. After what felt like an eternity, Lori's voice crackled over the speaker once again.

"I'm sorry Captain Cardinal, that file doesn't appear to exist on any of our systems."

"What!" Cardinal didn't even try to hide his shock, "Look again."

Hux wasn't interested in appeasing Canady through silence. He also wasn't one to let Cardinal work through his surprise undisturbed.

"I always suspected that you were an idiot, Cardinal, but I never thought you were stupid enough to falsely accuse me of murder without even trying to fabricate proof."

The red armored man looked down the table to Hux, "You did something! The report exists, you've seen it yourself. Just admit that you're a killer."

General Pryde had had enough of the two younger men. He was as ready as anyone to get rid of general Hux, doubly so if he really had killed Brendol. What Pryde wouldn't condone was more power plays and failed attempts at character assassination. He'd seen plenty of both during his days in the Imperial army, and he wasn't about to let the younger generation pull the First Order into the same habits.

"That's enough of that Cardinal. We have important matters to discus and we haven't time for baseless accusations."

Cardinal wasn't about to let this go. Hux had done something, he knew it.

"But General-"

"You heard the man," Hux cut him off, a sneer on his words, "Take a seat Cardinal, you're done."

The captain looked down at Hux. Silence settled on the room. Phasma felt the tension rise and put a hand over the grip of her blaster.

Before she had a reason to fire, Cardinal looked away. He sat back down in a huff.

The rest of high command didn't pay him any mind. They saw that the moment had passed, and none were willing to bring it back. Even those that wanted Hux gone knew better than to force it, especially when they didn't have any evidence to justify their actions. The meeting went on. Cardinal stayed silent through it.

He watched the red haired general the entire time. Cardinal knew he had to have done something. Hux had killed Brendol and now he was getting away with it. The captain had told High Command about Hux's deeds and they were too quick to brush him off. Cardinal had always known the First Order was rotten. Before now he thought its strength outweighed it weakness, but the revelation that they wouldn't even question having a murderer in high command ate at him.

The room took on a new light for Captain Cardinal. He sat in silence for the rest of the meeting.

He wouldn't be a puppet for the First Order any longer.


	29. Home

As per general Hux's orders, a contingent of storm troopers would be in the control room in less than five minutes. Shortly after knocking Mako out for the second time in the day, Lori had been busy at work staging the room.

The way it looked now, Mako was laying unconscious with Orin's blaster in his hand. Their uniforms were back in one piece, and that was no hint that either had been bound and gagged. While she was putting their cloths back in order, Lori had found the final copy of the report tucked into Orin's pants pocket. Grinning at the discovery, Lori dropped her blaster besides Orin's cold hand.

When the troopers came running in, the scene that greeted them would be wildly different than whatever Mako had to tell them. As far as a trooper or FOSB agent would be concerned, it looked like the two traitors had gotten into a fight. They would assume the traitors pulled blasters on each other, and then fired at the same time.

Not bothering to stop and admire the scene, Lori left the room.

She was safely in the tubrolyft and away from the scene when the troopers arrived. The walk to Hux's suite was long, but it was made quick by her hurried steps. On a normal day she knew to walk with a clam about her, but adrenaline urged her on.

Even as she neared Hux's quarters, a few people wondered the halls. None of them stopped or questioned her. Most didn't mind her at all, and those that did assumed that Hux had made some urgent request of his aid.

When Lori did reach the suite, she didn't waste time on a knock.

General Hux sat at the bar. Lori watched tension drop from is shoulders the instant she stepped inside.

"I was getting worried." He spoke first.

"About little old me? I can't imagine why." She crossed the room to take a seat at the other stool.

He smirked, "I know it might be difficult to imagine, but requesting a squad of stormtroopers after reporting shots fired doesn't conjure happy thoughts."

Lori leaned against the counter while she spoke, "Well, I couldn't go letting you get too comfortable, now could I? Anyhow, they'll find one dead and one alive."

The general wasn't surprised that it had come to that. He wasn't about to say anything about the dead resistance agent, Lori wouldn't have done it unless it were absolutely necessary. More than anything, he was worried that a close quarters shooting might have brought up old memories.

"Nothing upset you?" he wasn't sure how to show concern.

Lori heard the significance in Hux's question. She would be lying if she said she'd been completely unfazed. Having someone that knew to offer a hand when she needed one, but to not force pity on her, was all she needed to get over it and more than she ever expected to have.

"A bit, but I'm fine now."

Hux took her words at face value and went back to business.

"I'll arrange to have them transferred to the _Finalizer_ then. I was planning on giving Vaylor's cell to captain Cray, but I'm sure we could find a place for our new arrival."

The weight of a new face in the prison wards didn't weigh on Lori's conscious. Happy to continue on with the good news, she reached into one of the pockets of her tunic. The data disk that held the final copy of the report landed on the bar with a small clatter.

"You really have outdone yourself," Hux didn't have to stall in giving Lori a genuine complement.

She had earned it, the general wasn't sure he could say the same about anyone else. He wasn't sure that he could have trusted anyone to be as loyal either.

"I do alright," Lori looked at Hux with a gentle smile, "What about you? I couldn't hear anything else from the meeting room, other than Cardinal pitching a fit."

Hux didn't let mention of the captain sour his mood, "He's not happy, and I don't think this is the last time we'll have to worry about him, but his name is ruined with high command. I doubt they'll believe anything he says now."

"Sounds like it's mission accomplished then."

"For now." Hux leaned against the table as well, glancing at the data disk as he went, "Rebels are a problem as old as time."

Lori left the chip in its place, "I suppose that means I ought to stick around."

The general snapped the disk in half, this time managing not to cut his thumb.

"If you would be so kind."

She could still tell that the man wasn't very good at giving a kind word, but she would be happy to stay by his side long enough for him to learn.

"Kind is a stretch, but I'll see what I can do," Looking for something that would give them an excuse to relax a little, her gaze settled on the liquor cabinet at the far end of the room, "How about a drink to celebrate? You know, since we actually finished the job this time around."

They're shuttle back to the _Finalizer_ would be leaving in two hours. Hux didn't plan on sticking around for long, and he didn't care for the dark liquors that made up the contents of the cabinet.

Like most things, however, he was sure that Lori could make it work.

"Put something together, I need to arrange the prisoner transport," he said, picking up a data pad as he went.

Bottles clinked together and ice rattled as it fell into glasses. Both would have been happy to stay in that quite moment.

Unfortunately, they're problems would never truly be over.

.***.***.***.***.

The ride to the _Finalizer_ was short. The two hours in hyperspace was spent in silence. Hux didn't want to leave a paper trail behind his taking Mako with him, so he hadn't commandeered a full prisoner transport.

Instead, he was left to look the resistance agent in the eye.

Hux, Lori, Mako, and Phasma had all piled into the same Upsilon shuttle. Mako sat in cuffs next to Phasma. She kept her blaster trained on him. Both knew there was no real way for the man to escape. He had nowhere to run besides, but Hux had requested that the man be kept in the cross hairs.

Lori and Hux acted like any general and aid would. Lori didn't know what exactly Phasma knew, nor did she really understand how deep Phasma's and Hux's relationship went. All the bounty hunter did know was that Hux hadn't told the armor clad captain about their relationship, so she wouldn't either.

The uneasy silence stayed in the shuttle until it landed on the _Finalizer_. When the loading bay dropped down, everyone went their separate ways. Phasma took Mako to the interrogation wards, Lori made for her suite, and Hux left for his shift on the bridge.

The general couldn't have known that Kylo Ren was pacing back and forth along the bridge, waiting on him. Ren never did like spending time staring out the viewport of a star destroyer, it was far too dull for a man who fancied himself a warrior. The dark side user sensed general Hux walking down the hall long before he ever saw the man. On a normal day Ren would have been content to leave the bridge in search of something more interesting, but today he had the feeling that Hux was in something resembling a good mood.

Ren stopped in his tracks to look at the door. The bridge crew knew about the mans uncanny ability to tell when company was approaching. More often than not an abrupt stop meant that nothing good was about to happen.

Going out of their way to mind their own business, the rest of the crew didn't look up when the red haired general stepped onto the bridge.

Hux glanced at Ren. There was protocol for greeting a fellow commander on the bridge, but neither Hux nor Ren did it for each other. For the general it was an intentional snub, for Ren it was simply a case of not bothering to remember the rule.

The force user hadn't only been pacing for want of something to do on the bridge. An order had come in from supreme leader Snoke. Both commanders of the _Finalizer_ were to report in for a meeting in twenty minutes. Ren hadn't been told that Hux was off ship, and when he heard the news he had thrown a fit, breaking a conference table in the process.

Even more vexing was the fact that no one could find the general. Now that he had suddenly appeared without an explanation, Ren was set on ruining the general's good mood.

"We have a meeting with the Supreme Leader." Ren didn't wait for Hux to make himself comfortable on the bridge.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori had only made it a few turns away from the hanger bay when a familiar face caught her in the hall.

"Captain Gallus, come with me. It's important." Wilt stepped out of a side hall.

No one else was in the hallway. Lori knew that there was no way Wilt could know what she was just getting back from, but her first though was that he knew about her double agent status.

Pushing down the quick bead of paranoia, Lori fell in step beside the pilot.

"What is it Wilt?"

He walked towards an empty office, "privacy first."

Lori started wondering if leaving her blaster back on the _Absolution_ had been a good idea. Still with no hint that she was in danger besides a feeling in her gut, Lori followed Wilt into the other room.

The door whooshed shut behind her. Only a second after she did, Wilt began nervously talking.

"We need to get out here. They got Cray, our cover's blown."

Lori had been expecting a very different conversations, but she could make do with this one. Disguising relief as surprise and then worry wasn't difficult.

"What? How? Hank would die before he told them anything."

"Well, apparently they got to him. The FOSB was all over the logistics office this morning. You weren't in your office, so I thought they scooped you up too."

Lori didn't mention where else she could have been, "No, I haven't had any run ins with the FOSB. Maybe they only got Mina's name out of Hank."

"Maybe, but I don't trust Mina not to start talking."

A plan quickly came together in Lori's mind.

"You're right… do you know how to fly an upsilon?"

Wilt liked the way Lori was talking, "I can fly anything they got in the hangar."

"Good," she thought back to the paperwork that had been her cover job for the past month, "we're supposed to be getting a new shipment of shuttles tomorrow. They arrive at 0600, a quality assurance test is set for 1000. No one will be watching them in that window"

She let him come to the obvious conclusion.

"Ok, ok. I see what you're saying. I'll tell the others, when's go time?"

Realizing she had the leeway to set the time for the resistances planned flight from the _Finalizer_, Lori talked on.

"0800. Make sure everyeone's there. Once the rest of the office figures out what's going on, we won't be able to wait on any stragglers."

"Understood."

The pilot was about to step back into the hall, a grim edge to his features. Lori realized she still needed to keep true to the persona Wilt believed her to have.

"And keep a low profile," she offered him advice, "we already lost good people, I don't think I could bare to lose anyone else."

Wilt nodded at her words, "Likewise, Captain Gallus. I'll see you tomorrow."

She let him leave the room without further comment. She would wait for him to get some distance from the room before she left, though she wasn't too concerned being seen with the pilot. Mina would probably brake and name her conspirators before long, but Lori was sure that she could talk her way out of any trouble the FOSB might put her in.

In the moment alone, she turned to the desk in the room. It had a computer set into like all the others in the ship. Powering it on, she drafted a message to the general.

"0800, Office of shuttle maintenance. Everyone will be there."

Satisfied that he would take the message as she meant it, Lori logged out of the terminal and shut the computer back down. Tomorrow was still half a day away, and Lori didn't doubt that she would have damage control to do when it came to whatever rumors Vanya and Quin had thought up.

.***.***.***.***.

The room was as dim as it ever was, lit only by the ghostly blue light of Snokes hologram. Hux and Ren stepped into the room without a word to each other. They had shared a short exchange on the bridge, and neither were in the mood to continue it now.

"Kylo Ren. General Hux." The supreme leader's voice echoed off the walls.

Hux distantly worried that the supreme leader might have heard about the recent mishap on the _Absolution_. From the corner of his eye, he could see Kylo Ren's helmet tilt to the side. The general didn't let his thoughts dwell on his doubts for long, keenly aware of the knight's ability to search people's minds.

"Supreme leader Snoke." Hux gave a slight bow at the waste, as careful as ever to appear as the perfectly obedient servant of the First Order that he always was.

"You summoned us, Supreme Leader." Ren didn't bow. Hux didn't bother trying to hide a flash of annoyance towards the man.

Even from light years away, Snoke could feel the resentment that stood between the two commanders. It amused him endlessly. As much as Snoke enjoyed watching the two men squirm, he did call them with important matters in mind.

"Indeed I did, Kylo Ren. There has been a disturbance in the Force, and it has shown to me a threat that cannot be disregarded."

The Force. Hux knew better than to dismiss the supreme leaders orders, especially to is face. As it was, the general only just managed to keep his mind on thoughts other than how little a supposed vision should be trusted.

Hux almost rolled his eyes at how much of Ren's attention had been caught by the simple mention of some otherworldly vision.

"Certainly, Supreme Leader. Tell me this threat. I will remove it."

Despite knowing that it wasn't physically possible, Hux could have sworn that the walls shook with Snokes laughter. An old and tired thing that was little more than a wheeze, Hux had a sinking feeling the second he hear it. It was never a good sign when the supreme leader found a smile upon his lips.

"So you will, Knight of Ren. So you will. Your uncle lives. Strike him down, and fulfill your grandfather's legacy."

"Skywalker?" Ren said the name with a hiss that was nearly lost beneath the static of his helmet.

"Yes, the last Jedi sits in exile. It is you who will bring him into the galaxy, and strike him down."

For as dead set on this vision that Snoke was, Hux saw an obvious flaw. Luke Skywalker had removed himself. Gone into exile under his own power. The general couldn't' imagine any case where bringing the old man back would have any benefit. Even if killing a defunct old man was worth the First Orders time, Hux was of the mind that they could do that without bringing Luke back to the galaxy proper.

"Supreme Lead are you sure that's wi-"

"Silence!"

A tightness gripped the general's throat. For a short second that could have lasted forever, the air stopped in his lungs. For as hard as he struggled for a breath, nothing came. No one was near, but he felt a phantom hand wrapped around his neck. When his own rose to meet it, he found nothing there.

Nothing but some force unseen. Some terrible magic that could easily be the death of him.

Dark rings fogged the edge of Armitage's vision, and he tried to choke out words that only came as strangled yelps. A second before the lost breaths brought him to his knees, the general suddenly caught a lung full of fresh air.

The supreme leaders order was final. Hux said nothing more before bowing slightly and taking an unsteady step back.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux stepped into his suite at 1800. Today had been one of the longer ones in recent memory. Not intending to get any work done, he picked up his data pad. It blinked with a waiting message.

It had no sender, though Hux knew exactly who it was from.

Without too much worry, he opened it. He was planning on making a social call anyways.

The message was purely business: "0800, Office of shuttle maintenance. Everyone will be there."

Taking a seat at the bar, he typed out a reply.

"Noted. Come to my suite."

He still didn't like the idea of leaving written record of the details of their plans. Besides, the general thought, they could talk about it in person. He also hoped that they could talk about other things.

Hux settled in for a wait and tried not to pay too much mind to his earlier conversation with Snoke and Ren, though the memory of that tightness around his neck wouldn't soon be forgotten. He didn't see the point in searching for Luke Skywalker. The man had exiled himself and Hux saw no strategic value in pulling him back into the thick of things.

For a short while, the general considered stepping into his office and at least trying to get some work done. Deciding that he would just distract himself with either his own thoughts or other time wasters on the holonet, the general drafted a message to the FOSB. He didn't trust them to do any real investigative work, but een they could plan a simple ambush.

Not a moment after he hit send Lori stepped in, unhurried as ever.

She spoke first, "never a moments rest around here, is there?"

As dour as his mood was, Hux felt it slowly giving way to a little bit of relief. Even when they were talking about work, Lori always managed to make the conversation worth his time.

"Afraid not. You've certainly been busy."

He wasn't going to ask how she had learned about the rebels plans to flee the _Finalizer_ so quickly. Not because she wouldn't tell him, after all that had happened he knew that she would share her secrets if pressed enough. No, he didn't ask because he enjoyed the little bit of mystery that clung to Lori, and because he wanted reasons to keep her around.

"Just doing my job Glad to see that the _Finalizer's_ still in once piece" She leaned against the bar.

"After a day alone with Ren, that is a miracle, isn't it?" Hux set his data pad on the counter and stood from his seat, "but never mind him. I've drafted an order to the FOSB, they'll be laying in ambush for the rebels come tomorrow morning at 0800 sharp."

"Thanks for the heads up, I'll play along."

The general was about to open the refrigerator, but stopped.

"You can't be about to walk into an ambush."

It was Lori's turn to take a seat on one of the stools, "I was planning on walking out of it too, you know. We both know you ordered the FOSB to take the rebels alive, all I have to do is not get shot in the opening stages and then you can come spring me from the brig afterwards."

He had given an order to capture rather than kill, anyone other than the bounty hunter would have assumed the opposite.

When Hux didn't immediately reply, Lori talked on.

"After that… well, I don't know."

After that, Hux knew, there wouldn't be any more rebels to ferret out. Not on the _Finalizer_, at least. There wouldn't be a reason to keep Lori around.

He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about the search for Skywalker. He didn't want to think about cleaning up Kylo Ren's messes. He didn't want to think about nearly being strangled from across the galaxy. He didn't want to think that Lori's time in the First Order may be coming to an end.

Hux had never been the one to ignore pressing matters. He'd always faced his problems head on, stubbornly picking away at them until they eventually stopped being a problem.

But now. Now he was the one trying to change the subject.

"Never mind that," he looked directly at Lori, the refrigerator and dinner completely forgotten, "I haven't gotten my turn to ask a question."

Lori had been watching him look for anything else to talk about besides work coming to an end. She also didn't like to think about it, and she had something she wanted to try besides. During their trip to the _Absolution_, she had almost promised that there would be a time where they didn't have to go their separate ways just at the moment was heating up.

This particular night was one she intended to draw out.

A small smile came to her lips, "Well? You do you got to ask?"

"Would you like something to drink?" Hux took his turn.

Though he wasn't thinking of their earlier conversation he, did want a reason for Lori to stick around.

Lori considered it, but she had other plans. A little bit of liquid courage might help her along, but she still thought getting the general liquored up would be cheating.

"Not tonight," she thought of how she would bring the conversation where she wanted it, "Do you know that time it is?"

Hux wondered where Lori was going with her question. More than once she had started off with something seemingly innocent, only to pry some information out of him. The game was certainly part of the appeal.

"2000." He gave a simple answer just to see what she could do with it.

Lori gave slight tilt of the head while she looked at the general, "That sure is awful late."

They both knew it wasn't.

"Is it now?" Hux called her on her assessment.

"Well, it's been a long day. Looks like tomorrow'll last forever too." The bounty hunter made no attempt to hide her looking around the suite.

Hux saw her gaze linger on the door to his bedroom.

The general was a stranger to company, but he wasn't blind. Making an effort not to be too obvious he talked on.

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't mind if tonight lasted a little longer."

With that, Lori knew that he was onboard with exactly what she had in mind.

"I suppose we could stay up late. Got any thoughts on what to do?"

Hux looked Lori up and down, he certainly had ideas, but he was still going to be difficult, "I think it was my turn to ask a question."

"mmmm… no. You just asked me if I was sure about it being late," She spoke with that provocative glint in her eye.

"So I did," he leaned back against the bar, watching Lori for any other teasing gestures.

"As I was saying, what're we doing with all this time?"

He wasn't going to just say it outright, "I have a few ideas."

Lori heard the meaning in his words.

Helping him along she gave a simple suggestion, "whatever they are, how about we move to a different room? It's awful cold in here."

The general didn't call Lori on her second question, "Now that you mention it, perhaps the bedroom would be warmer."

Taking Hux's last words as the invitation that they were, Lori stood from her seat.

"Well then, after you."

Hux felt a genuine smile creeping over his features. Standing from his barstool he took a purposely slow step towards the stairs. He hadn't ever thought he would get this far, and he still wasn't sure how to act.

Lori fell in behind the general. She wasn't sure he had noticed, but his cheeks had gone red with a slight blush. She never thought she would get this far, but now that she had she let herself enjoy the moment.

A short moment later, they came to the bedroom door.

It was a simple room. A full sized bed that sat in a corner, sheets tucked tightly around it. A wardrobe stood against one wall, filled with identical charcoal gray uniforms. Just as tightly kept as the man who lived in it, Lori didn't have quick comment for her surroundings.

She did, however have a plan.

Shutting the door and turning to face the bounty hunter, Hux saw that glint in Lori's eyes and the little grin sitting on her lips. Both drove him just as wild as they ever had.

"Hmm. Looks like the bedrooms just as cold as the living room." She spoke to no one in particular.

The general could feel is own pulse. Not letting his nerves get the best of him now, he reached his arms around Lori. She stepped into his grasp.

"I think we can fix that." He said, head tilted down to look fully at Lori.

Her little grin grew into a warm smile.

The warm smile turned into a hot kiss, turned into something more.

.***.***.***.***.

AN: Fridays chapter will be the last one, hope to see ya'll there. Also, I'm a coward when it comes to smut, so we're just going to leave that as a fade to black (I also don't want to bump the rating to M for the sake of 1 scene). If there is some interest in an explicit scene, I'll try writing something up (no promises) but I'll be posting it as its own separate fic with an M rating.


	30. Major Gallus

AN: Actual AN turned out really long, am putting it as a review because I don't want to inflate the word count too badly.

.***.***.***.***.

The chrono read 0650.

Hux woke up first. Slowly drifting out of slumber, he moved an arm over the warm body that laid beside and partially on top of him. He would have drifted back to a deep slumber if the strangeness of another person didn't abruptly jolt him wide awake.

Suddenly aware of their position and not used to the touch of another person, Hux froze in place.

Lori's head rested on his shoulder. Her scarred arm laid over his chest, leaving her hand to sit on his other shoulder. He found his left arm wrapped around the woman, his hand resting near her bare hip.

Hux didn't want to move, lest he wake Lori up. After last night, he knew that he had nothing to hide from her. But something about being so exposed left him vulnerable in a way he didn't recognize.

Just as the general was wondering how to put words to the thoughts running through his head, Lori shifted in place. A small groan and a stiff stretch said she was waking up. Panicking, and not knowing what else to do, Armitage closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Slowly coming too, Lori pulled at the covers before wrapping her arm back around the general. The ship was cold, and -for once- he was warm. Appreciating the feel of someone to hold and of someone holding her, Lori pulled herself closer to Armitage.

Her head brushed against the base of his neck. When it did, she felt him tense and try to quietly pull in a quick breath. Aware of the little reaction, Lori kept herself relaxed.

Last night had been lovely and vulnerable. Neither of them had given any thought to what the morning would bring, but Lori had something in mind.

"Morning, Armie."

He didn't stir at her words, but she felt him tense again.

Moving back, Lori got a good look at Armitage's face. His hair was thrown in wild directions, a far cry from the normally strictly styed look the general kept. Lori took satisfaction in the effect she had on the man. Her hair was in a similar state, and she vaguely thought of how much of a pain it would be to tie it back into a neat bun with no brush at her disposal.

When Hux didn't reply, Lori made her second comment.

"Come on, you can hear me. I know you're awake."

Knowing that he'd been found out, Hux opened his eyes to find Lori looking up at him.

He didn't move otherwise.

"Good morning."

After the heat of the moment, he'd been the one to cuddle and hold on. Now that it was morning he found himself unsure of what was and wasn't fair game. Lori had enjoyed every moment of it, and thought that now was as good a time as any to show it.

With a lazy little smile, she leaned forward and planted a little peck on the general's cheek. The moment she did, the tension dropped from the man's shoulders.

"I take it you slept well." Hux fished for something gentle to say, but he didn't quite hit the mark.

Lori heard the attempt on his words. She considered how difficult she was going to be. It was early, so she settled on something that was more a complement than anything else.

"Sure did. It didn't hurt that I was dead tired by the time you turned the lights out."

Hux felt a rush of heat race to his cheeks. Lori saw it and couldn't help but smile. If she had known the general was this prone to blushing, she would have tried to tease it out of him more often.

"Well. You certainly wore me out as well," he didn't move his arm from around her waist, nor did Lori move away from Hux's shoulder.

She let her head rest back against his chest, "sounds like you could use more regular exercise."

The tiny sarcastic edge to Loris words brought the general back to more familiar territory. Slowly finding his bearings in the conversation, Hux leaned back so that he could land a small kiss against Lori's forehead.

"Likewise, miss Gallus."

She looked up at the man, "No fair, you can't go back to calling me Miss Gallus."

"Would you rather I call you something else?" it was Hux's turn to smirk with a knowing glint in his eyes.

Lori suddenly understood what the appeal of that look was.

"I could think of something."

They pulled each other close, and would have stayed that way if Hux hadn't caught sight of the chrono.

_Damn_, he thought.

"If we have a repeat of last night, I might have to call you late to your own meeting."

"Hm?" Lori hummed with a small question while she twisted to check the time.

The chrono read 0720.

"Damn it." She cursed at the time.

"My sentiments exactly," Hux muttered before shifting in place.

Lori wished that they could have drawn the moment out, but she turned to leave the bed instead. The room was cold, and she fished for her undergarments all the more quickly because of it. Hux would have been content to enjoy the view, but he felt slightly dirty just watching.

Following suit, he left the bed and pulled a freshly pressed uniform from the closet.

"That's not fair either." Lori said while pulling her hair back into a pony tail that would be the base of a bun.

Hux was only missing his boots by the time Lori had found her pants and tucked her undershirt in. He finished combing his hair and putting on cologne while she searched for her belt. It had ended up underneath the wardrobe, and by the time she had it in place Hux had finished remaking the bed. With the room and themselves both put back together, the couple slipped on their respective boots at 0730.

Forgoing breakfast in lieu of a busy day, they left the suite at 0732. Lori went directly to her office, while Hux went to the interrogation wards.

The FOSB would be waiting for the would be run-aways, and the general wanted to make sure his agent didn't get caught up in the interrogations.

.***.***.***.***.

Lori stepped into the office at 0752.

The rest of the crew was already waiting on her. Wilt leaned against her desk, anxiously tapping a foot. Jenu the radar technition muttered to one of the storm troopers, the second of which stood to the side.

"We were getting worried." Wilt was the first to speak.

"Sorry, I got tied up talking to someone."

No one gave her half lie any attention.

"Either way, it looks like we're ahead of schedule. I say we get out of here."

Lori knew that the FOSB was supposed to be lying in wait aboard the ship closest to the hangar bay entrance. What she didn't know was whether or not they were in place yet.

"Hold on a second guys," she looked for something to stall with, "what's the plan after we take the upsilon? I mean, we make the jump to hyperspace first chance we get, but where too?"

"Does it matter?" Jenu spoke first.

"Not really," Lori knew better than to push too far for information, "but we better have our minds made up. It doesn't take long to scramble TIEs and it's even quicker to blast us out of the stars with one of the main turbolasers."

One of the stromtroopers took a breath in for a quick comment, but was cut off by Wilt.

"You're not wrong. I was just going to punch in the last set of coordinates and then figure it out from there."

Lori saw a few things wrong with that plan, and pointing out all of them would make for a great waste of time.

"…you do know they're factory fresh, right? There won't be any preset coordinates, they've never flown."

"Then how did they get here?" the interrupted trooper chimed in.

She gave him a questioning look, "On a shipping vessel. Because that's how things are shipped. You didn't think we just flew in a squadron of empty upsilons, did you? That would be ridiculously fuel inefficient."

Before anyone got more heated, Jenu spoke next, "ok, so no presets on the nav computer. I say we jump five parsecs in whatever direction we're facing when we get out of here, and then figure it out from there."

"Works for me, lets go." Wilt was quick to bring the conversation back on track.

Cursing the fact that she couldn't stall much longer, Lori glanced at the chrono on her desk.

0757.

Hoping that three minutes wasn't too early for the FOSB, she searched a shelf for the remote key to one of the shuttles.

Only a minute passed when Wilt made to leave the offices. Just entering the hall, he slowed to let Lori walk even with him. She was the one with the key cylinders to the hangar bay, after all. The walk to said bay was short.

No one was busy at work. Crossing the empty floor, Lori saw no sign of the agents. Walking to the agreed upon ship, she hoped that Hux's complaining about the FOSB was exaggerated.

A little click of the remote had the Upsilons loading ramp lowering. One of the troopers brought up the rear, watching for intruders. The other took a step onto the ramp, Jenu followed close behind. None of them had reason to believe that they were walking into an ambush.

Lori looked to Wilt, "After you."

The pilot only made it one step up the ramp before the blaster fire started.

Two sizzling bolts flew from the cockpit and through the passenger compartment. Jenu came running out, the trooper too dead to follow behind him. Wilt opened his mouth to shout something, but was cut off by a blaster bolt grazing his arm.

Lori wasn't about to invite a shot to the back. Hoping that the FOSB played by the same protocol as the army, she put both hands behind her head and laid face first on the ground.

Wilt rolled on the floor beside her when a booted foot stepped out of the passenger compartment. The second trooper had tried to return fire, but ended up running for it when he realized he was outgunned.

Neither the bounty hunter nor the general gave the FOSB much credit, but they had planned an ambush well. Just as the two fleeing men neared the hangar bay door, a second pair of agents stepped out from around a corner.

Not bothering to demand that the rebels stop, each agent brought an arm up. Jenu and the trooper ran head first into the agent's elbows, the force of the impact taking both to the ground.

The trooper's blaster skittered across the floor. The agent who had hit the man's helmet swore.

With their prey knocked to the ground, the team of agents didn't waste time pulling handcuffs out and making threats. Lori offered no resistance and did as she was told.

There was no telling what act she might have to put on for the interrogators later.

.***.***.***.***.

General Hux loomed over the front desk to the interrogations ward. The sergeant on duty tried not to stare at the man, but also didn't want to leave him out of sight for long. Both of them nervously glanced at the chrono on the wall.

Hux because he was impatiently waiting for the FOSB to come in with the resistance agents in tow. The desk sergeant was simply desperate for anything to look at besides the commander.

The chrono read 0830 when the front door slid open.

The sergeant was about to welcome the distraction, but the gaggle of people left her speechless and confused.

Hux already had plans for the group. Quickly counting heads, and carefully not letting his gaze linger on Lori, he found an issue.

"You're short one," he told the FOSB agent that stood at the front of the group.

Major Pleon didn't want to speak to the general almost as much as Hux didn't want to speak to him, "Check the morgue."

Noting the insolence, Hux talked on with an expected amount of distain on his features.

"How unfortunate. Take the prisoners to separate cells and leave the trained personnel to their jobs. After that, you're dismissed."

Pleon was about to remind the general that the FOSB was a separate entity from the army and that he had no authority to order them about, but Hux's reputation as a man slow to forget those that slighted him kept the major in line. With a simple nod to the rest of his group, the major and their captives moved down the hall. Hux couldn't help but notice that one of the rebels was unconscious, his feet dragging against the ground.

Turning his back on the agents, Hux looked down at the desk sergeant. She had been listening to the whole exchange, and tried to hide the fact by quickly pretending she had an urgent message to type.

Hux wasn't fooled for a second.

"Sergeant. Enter the following names into the system…"

The woman behind the desk was quick to respond. Hux was just as quick to list out a series of names. As flustered as the sergeant was, she didn't notice that the general gave one less name than there had been new prisoners in the hall.

After the prisoners were secure, the agents were quick to leave. The sergeant at the desk was only a step behind them, squeaking out something about needing to deliver a message to one of the workers deep in the interrogation ward.

Hux took the empty room as his chance to slip down the hall and to the private cells. Each had solid doors, an intentional part of their design, since they doubled as solitary confinement. Moving quickly, Hux checked the rooms as he went.

He had to walk past a few cells that held people for offences he hadn't been told about, but eventually the general came to the correct room. The door was infuriatingly slow to open, but when it did Hux was greeted by Lori nonchalantly leaning against a wall.

"Morning, general." She told him with a grin.

"As much as I would love to chat, I'm afraid we're on a time limit." Hux was aware of each second that passed as he spoke, but he did enjoy his little exchanges with Lori.

Stepping out of the cell and into the hall, Lori wasn't about to waste any more time. Moving quickly didn't keep her from noticing that Hux was willing to play along. The two of them quickly made down the hall, a short exchange of words passing between them as they went.

"We going anywhere specific?" Lori would have liked to keep the banter up, but the doors weren't truly sound proofed. Dropping the outer rim accent in favor of her wild space one was as much as she could do to disguise her voice.

Hux had a few smart comments in mind, but he too was aware that there might be eves droppers. He settled on something short, "the usual."

Just that was enough to tell Lori to meet Hux back at his suite. When they came to the end of the prison wards they took separate routes to his suite, it wouldn't do them any good to be seen together wandering the halls. The walk back to Hux's quarters didn't take either of them very long.

Nearly two hours into a shift, the halls were near deserted and no one stopped either of them to chat. Lori reached the room first, code cylinder unlocking the door for her to enter. Just a couple minutes later, Hux walked in behind her.

"Well, it's been quite the morning" the general started the conversation.

"I've had worse," Lori glanced around at the kitchen, "but I wouldn't turn down a morning meal and a nice chat."

The general walked to the refrigerator, "You could just tell me that I need to eat something instead of dancing around the topic."

"Now where's the fun in that?" her words came out over a small grin.

"I suppose there isn't any," he pulled a box from the cooler and put it into the reheater, "and as long as we're avoiding important topics…"

He trailed off, curious to see where Lori would pick the sentence up. She knew that he wanted her to take it somewhere personal. As much as Lori would have loved to, that would be far too straight forward.

Taking her time in picking a suitably difficult answer, she took a seat at the bar.

"Well, now that you mention it, I suppose my work here is done. The reports gone, the traitors are arrester, Cardinal's word is mud."

The reheater dinged to signal that the food was done. Hux didn't turn around to pull the meals from it.

"I thought we already agreed that your work would never really be finished."

Lori looked up at the general mischievous twinkle in her eye, "I suppose we did. How's payment going to work? We never did get around to making any official decisions."

With that, Hux saw an in on the conversation, "Now that you mention it, it would make sense to keep you around on retainer."

"Captains salary seems like it would to the job just fine."

"Would it now?" it was Hux's turn to get clever, "I was thinking something a little higher. How does Major Gallus sound?"

Lori had several comments to pick from. She went the one most heavily laden with double meaning.

"Sounds like a title that comes with an upgrade to a private suite."

"Now that you mention it, I suppose it does."

"Might get awful lonely. Without a bunch of roommates running around, I'm not sure how I'll cope."

The general looked down at the major, "I'm sure we can work something out."

She looked up at the man, eying the smirk to his lips and the glint in his eye.

"I think you're right."


End file.
